The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Saturday, September 18, 2021
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A new level of ambition in art by 3 women

Installation view of 'Mickalene Thomas: Beyond the Pleasure Principle' at Lévy Gorvy. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging.

by Roberta Smith


NEW YORK, NY.- Fall tends to be a great time in New York City’s art world. The weather can be superb. There’s a back-to-school excitement as galleries reopen, sometimes at new addresses, usually with new shows. Even having art fairs arrive inconveniently early this year, during Labor Day week, didn’t dampen things. As usual, much of the buzz of a new season derives from gallery solos which reveal individual artists making changes and taking new risks. Going to galleries is, on one level, a search for such signs of growth and the cultural optimism they engender. Three of the most exciting gallery shows right now present the latest efforts of well-known artists: Lisa Yuskavage in Chelsea, Mickalene Thomas on the Upper East Side and Alison Elizabeth Taylor in Tribeca. We get to see what’s utmost on their minds as reflected in markedly different, and improved, work fresh out of the studio, often completed during the pandemic. All of which makes them very satisfying to visit and mull o ... More


The Best Photos of the Day
Best Photos of the Day
This photograph shows massive stone head statues at the archaeological site of Mount Nemrut in Adiyaman, southeastern Turkey, on September 17, 2021. This UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 is on a 2,134-metre-high mountain including giant 10-meter high, seated statues of King Antiochus I himself surrounded by ancient Gods, including Zeus and Apollo, which was discovered in 1881 by a German engineer. Yasin AKGUL / AFP.






Phillips to sell works by Max Ernst from the collection of Peter Schamoni   Asia Week New York heads into the autumn season with gallery exhibitions and auctions   Russian oligarch to appeal Swiss closure of art dealer case


Max Ernst, Matin et soir, 1930. Estimate: £200,000-300,000. Image courtesy of Phillips.

LONDON.- Phillips announced ‘Maximiliana: Max Ernst from the Collection of Peter Schamoni’. Through his close friendship with Max Ernst, renowned film director and screenwriter Peter Schamoni assembled an exceptional collection that serves as a lasting memento of one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. Over 80 works of art will be offered, starting with the 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day and Evening sales in London on 14 and 15 October, followed by New York in November. The sale of the collection will culminate in December with a dedicated online-only sale of works on paper, editions, photographs and ephemera. Cheyenne Westphal, Global Chairwoman, Phillips, said, “The relationship between Peter Schamoni and Max Ernst, an artist who welcomed him into his home, studio and life for close to two decades, is at the heart of this esteemed collection. Having been on loan to the Max Ernst Museum in Brühl, the ped ... More
 

Mamuli Heirloom Ornament, Sumba. Gold. 19th Century, 2.75 in x 2.25 in (7cm X 5.7cm) 38.8 grams. Photo: Courtesy Thomas Murray.

NEW YORK, NY.- Whether it’s a contemporary ceramic vessel created by a National Treasure from Japan, an ink drawing by a young emerging artist from China or an ancient tribal mask from Borneo, Asia Week New York never disappoints with its amazing bounty of Eastern treasures. Starting September 17th through October 1st, 23 international galleries will present their exhibitions online at www.asiaweekny.com or in their New York galleries (by appointment or check for hours) with six auction houses–Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle, Heritage, iGavel, and Sotheby’s mounting their respective sales. Organized by category, here is a round-up of the highlights at the galleries: Portrait of a standing nobleman is one of four Indian miniature paintings offered by Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch, Ltd. This Mughal drawing, circa 1660-80, with opaque watercolor and gold on paper, in a reduced album page ... More
 

AS Monaco President Dmitry Rybolovlev looks on during the French League Cup final football match between Monaco (ASM) and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP.

GENEVA.- Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev's lawyers said Friday he would appeal Swiss prosecutors' closure of his case against a top art dealer he accused of swindling him out of millions of dollars. Rybolovlev, president of the AS Monaco football club, has alleged Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier charged him inflated prices on dozens of works he acquired for more than $2.1 billion. He has brought cases against the dealer since 2015 in Monaco, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and Switzerland. But after Rybolovlev suffered setbacks in the other jurisdictions, and saw his case against the art dealer thrown out in Monaco in 2019, the office of Geneva's top prosecutor said last January that it planned to drop the case. A spokesman for the Geneva judicial authorities confirmed to AFP on Friday that the case had been officially closed. Bouvier, who has always maintain ... More



Johnny Ramone's Mosrite guitar up for auction   Sotheby's to present first-of-its-kind auction celebrating New York graffiti and street artists   Interactive shadowboxes breathe life into the legacies of Village artists


Punk Rock's most historically important guitar heading for auction.

BOSTON, MASS.- An auction from Boston-based RR Auction features Johnny Ramone's 'Number One' Mosrite guitar. The 1965 Mosrite Ventures II electric guitar was personally owned and used by Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) for nearly two decades as the guitarist for punk rock legends the Ramones. The guitar's back is signed, "Johnny Ramone, My Main Guitar, 1977-1996." It was played at every Ramones performance until his retirement: from November 1977 through August 1996, for approximately 1,985 shows. The instrument was used on all 15 Ramones albums and can be heard on any live Ramones bootleg from late 1977-1999. It was later displayed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. According to guitar historian Chris Lamy, Cummings originally purchased the guitar in 1977 to replace his original blue Ventures II slab body, which was stolen from the Sire Records van with the rest of the ... More
 

Richard Hambleton, Stop Sign 2017. Courtesy Sotheby's.

NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s announced Public Intervention: Art of the Street, a first-of-its-kind online auction celebrating the first generation of New York graffiti and street artists, the iconoclasts who pioneered the style of street art that has become a global staple of popular culture and an increasing source of inspiration in the world of Contemporary Art. Open for bidding on Sothebys.com from 24 September – 1 October, this special auction presents works by legendary artists such as Lee Quiñones, Rammellzee, DONDI, Lady Pink, Zephyr, KAWS, Phase 2, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, and Richard Hambleton. The dedicated street art sale follows earlier Sotheby’s sales that presented street art in the context of contemporary art sales, most notably Dear Keith: Works from the Collection of Keith Haring, which included many artists from this generation. Together, Sotheby’s has an unparalleled track record of showcasing ... More
 

The Jackson Pollock exhibit is one of 21 shadowboxes displayed throughout New York’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, Sept. 13, 2021. An Rong Xu/The New York Times.

by Laura Zornosa


NEW YORK, NY.- At St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, there hangs a shadowbox — a square, 3D display case — containing a black-and-white photograph of Charlie Parker. His lips are pursed, his fingers are poised and he’s playing his saxophone with deep concentration. In the top-right corner is an orange QR code. Scan it, and the voice of actor-comedian John Leguizamo begins, crisp and clear. “A blazing jazz virtuoso and developer of bebop, Charlie Parker, or ‘Bird,’ as he was nicknamed, changed the course of music,” Leguizamo says. “He was a saxophonist, pioneering composer, an improvisational genius who ushered in a new era of jazz.” Leguizamo tells the tale of bebop, the fast-tempo jazz style that Parker pioneered. At the height ... More


Gagosian opens an exhibition of new paintings by Kon Trubkovich   Anthony White wins the 2021 Betty Bowen Award   Winterthur acquires recently discovered Anna Pottery Liberty Monument


Kon Trubkovich, Golden Ratio (Chartreuse), 2021. Oil on canvas, 95 x 77 in. 241.3 x 195.6 cm © Kon Trubkovich. Photo: Rob McKeever. Courtesy Gagosan.

NEW YORK, NY.- Gagosian is presenting The Antepenultimate End, an exhibition of new paintings by Kon Trubkovich. In paintings, works on paper, and videos, Trubkovich employs recollection as his primary source material. Through reference to antiquated technology, he investigates some of the ways in which personal and collective memories contradict one another, their gradual transformation complicating ideas of historical truth. Drawing on both recorded history and the story of his family’s 1990 emigration from the USSR to the United States, he marks the passage of time by alluding to the appearance of electronic media in decay. Trubkovich borrows imagery of many different origins—historical and contemporary—and reconstructs events from their depiction on TV, using the on-screen image as a metaphor for displacement. He employs a fine paintbrush to emulate the grain of the broadcast image; the fuzzy reproduction quality of ... More
 

Anthony White, AT THE SURFACE, 2021. PLA (polylactic acid) on panel, 60 x 48 x 1 ½ in., Courtesy of the artist and Greg Kucera Gallery, © Anthony White.

SEATTLE, WA.- The Seattle Art Museum and Betty Bowen Committee, chaired by Gary Glant, announced today that Anthony White is the winner of the 2021 Betty Bowen Award. The juried award comes with an unrestricted cash award of $15,000 and a solo exhibition at SAM. Founded in 1977 to continue the legacy of local arts advocate and supporter Betty Bowen, the annual award honors a Northwest artist for their original, exceptional, and compelling work. In Anthony White’s work, composed of PLA plastic, consumer items and brand symbols that define our moment coalesce to offer a reflection of society through the lens of social media, cell phones, and selfies. In 2019, White was the recipient of the Kayla Skinner Special Recognition Award, and in 2020 he won the Neddy at Cornish Painting Award. Recent exhibitions include Queer Visibility: Dean Sameshima & Anthony White at the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle and solo shows at Greg Kucera Gallery, Seat ... More
 

Object depicts racial massacre in the Reconstruction Era.

WINTERTHUR, DE.- Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library has acquired the recently discovered Liberty Monument, a unique 150-year-old stoneware masterwork that dramatically depicts a racially motivated massacre in Colfax, Louisiana, in 1873. Winterthur acquired the Liberty Monument during the Summer 2021 auction of American stoneware and redware pottery by Crocker Farm, which described it as “one of the greatest American ceramic discoveries to come to light in recent decades.” A consigner who lives near Boise, Idaho, discovered the monument. The Liberty Monument was created by Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick, owners of Anna Pottery in Anna, Illinois, from 1859 to 1896. The brothers were known to be socially progressive. Vocal about their views, they often commented caustically on events and politics through their work. The primary scene depicted on the Liberty Monument is the massacre of Black citizens who acted against efforts to overturn ... More


Exhibition examines the representation of Black women in the United States over the past two centuries   Marian Goodman Gallery opens the fall season with an exhibition of new works by Tacita Dean   Sotheby's to offer the only first printing of the Constitution in private hands


Mrs. Nancy Lawson, 1843, oil on canvas by William Matthew Prior. Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont.

BRUNSWICK, ME.- This fall, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art presents There Is a Woman in Every Color: Black Women in Art, a new exhibition examining the representation of Black women in the United States over the past two centuries. Drawing on more than sixty works of art, historical objects, and artist books both from the Museum’s collection and on loan, the show confronts the history of marginalization and make visible the presence of women of color in the history of American art. The show features works by a number of important 20th and 21st century artists, including: Elizabeth Catlett, Alma Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, Betye Saar, Faith Ringgold, Kara Walker, Mickalene Thomas, Ja’Tovia Gary, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Nyeema Morgan. Supporting these works are a selection of artifacts and ephemera, as well as 19th century works of art, that highlight the continuity of experiences of ... More
 

Tacita Dean, Pan (Not in evidence), 2021. Collage on vintage index card. Paper: 4 x 6 in. (10.2 x 15.2 cm) Frame: 12 3/4 x 12 3/4 x 1 5/5 in. (30.5 x 32.4 x 4.1 cm).

NEW YORK, NY.- Marian Goodman Gallery announced that the Fall season opened with an exhibition of new works by Tacita Dean. The show includes a range of works in multiple mediums, including photogravure, large-scale photographs, silkscreen prints, two new 16mm films, slate drawings and a new box edition, nearly all inspired from her time living in Los Angeles, from 2014 to the present. The exhibition unfolds around a new body of work made in association with ‘The Dante Project,’ commissioned by The Royal Opera House in London to create new designs for The Royal Ballet, which will premiere in October 2021. Centered on Dante’s Divine Comedy, with new music by Thomas Adès and choreography by Wayne McGregor, the ballet is structured in three parts: Inferno; Purgatorio; and Paradiso. Dean represents these three realms of Dante’s journey in an inspired odyssey through various mediums and means of ... More
 

The Official Edition of the Constitution, the First Printing of the Final Text of the Constitution. Photo: Ardon Bar-Hama.

NEW YORK, NY.- This Constitution Day – exactly 234 years since America’s Founding Fathers signed the country’s most significant and lasting document – Sotheby’s announces a copy of The Official Edition of the Constitution, the First Printing of the Final Text of the Constitution as a highlight of Sotheby’s Evening Sales this November in New York, marking the first time a manuscript or historical document will be presented in a fine art evening auction. On offer with an estimate of $15/20 million, the extremely rare document – now the longest continuing charter of government in the world – is one of just 11 known copies of the official printing produced for the delegates to Constitutional Convention and for the Continental Congress. This is the only copy of the first printing of the Constitution that remains in private hands. The Constitution is on offer from the collection of Dorothy Tapper Goldman, and foll ... More




Ilka Perkins Empowers Through Pottery | Portraits of Radical Generosity



More News

Intuit to conserve contents of Henry Darger's Room as part of "Caring for a Chicago Legacy"
CHICAGO, IL.- Elements of Intuit's Henry Darger Room, an evocation of the renowned outsider artist's one-room home studio and a hallmark Chicago attraction, will be dismantled for conservation review in full view of visitors at the conclusion of Caring for a Chicago Legacy, a temporary exhibit opening on Friday, September 24. Caring for a Chicago Legacy is the third and final exhibition in the series Henry Darger: The Room Revealed, which draws upon the Henry Darger Room Collection and Archive to explore questions about the author and artist and his work, in collaboration with audiences and scholars. Featuring items from Darger's collection, Caring for a Chicago Legacy focuses on the importance of place—his residence, his community—and explores Chicago connections like the Iroquois Theatre Fire, the 1933 World's Fair and the city's architecture ... More

New York Philharmonic marks 'homecoming' after pandemic cancellations
NEW YORK, NY.- Following 556 days of pandemic-inflicted cancellations and unconventional concerts, New York's Philharmonic will open its new season Friday, a "homecoming" for musicians limited to livestreams, one-off and outdoor shows for more than a year. After enduring months of crisis the Phil, one of America's oldest musical institutions, will re-open its subscription season with a program featuring Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, Anna Clyne's "Within Her Arms," Aaron Copland's "Quiet City" and George Walker's "Antifonys." The pandemic forced the famed symphony orchestra to cancel its 2020-21 season, resulting in more than $21 million in lost ticket revenues. And on top of that challenge, the Phil is homeless: the orchestra's longtime base, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, is in the middle of a major $550-million renovation. Most of the 2021-22 ... More

Jane Powell, Hollywood's girl next door, is dead at 92
NEW YORK, NY.- Jane Powell, whose pert good looks and lyrical soprano voice brought her Hollywood stardom before she was out of her teens — but whose movie career peaked when she was still in her 20s with a starring role in one of the last great MGM musicals, the 1954 extravaganza “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” — died Thursday at her home in Wilton, Connecticut. She was 92. Susan Granger, a friend, confirmed the death. Powell, who was just over 5 feet tall and retained the guileless features of an innocent teenager well past adolescence, found herself typecast from the outset. She was only 15 when her first film, “Song of the Open Road” (1944), was released. She played a disenchanted young film star who finds happiness when she runs away from home and joins a group of young people picking crops while adult farmworkers are at war. ... More

VMFA announces the upcoming retirement of two exceptional museum leaders
RICHMOND, VA.- The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts today announced the upcoming retirement of two members of the museum’s senior leadership team. Stephen Bonadies, Chief Conservator and Senior Deputy Director for Conservation and Collections, will retire in November and Hossein Sadid, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Deputy Director for Finance, will retire at the end of the fiscal year in late June 2022. Bonadies joined VMFA in 2009 and, as Chief Conservator and Senior Deputy Director for Conservation and Collections, his efforts to expand and improve the institution’s facility included managing the comprehensive reinstallation of the museum’s permanent collection galleries for the museum’s 2010 reopening. In addition, Bonadies was responsible for overseeing the renovation and expansion of the new Eda Hofstead Cabaniss ... More

Nicola Vassell Gallery opens an exhibition of works by Alvaro Barrington
NEW YORK, NY.- Nicola Vassell Gallery is presenting Alvaro Barrington: GARVEY 1: BIRTH - The Quiet Storm, an exhibition exploring birth, kin and the notion of being born into the traditions and material conditions of family. It is the first chapter in a four-part ode by the artist to the life and work of Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican national hero, and political activist who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1914. Garvey, like Barrington, was born in the Caribbean and went on to live, work and forge important ties to the United States and England. The similarities in their migratory paths, the ways in which both men’s lives correlate and what Barrington learns from Garvey, form the basis of the artist’s conceptual inquiry. Leaping from territory to territory and the attendant “mark-making” of these island citizens—in Garvey’s case a political ... More

Broadway is brimming with Black playwrights. But for how long?
NEW YORK, NY.- Broadway’s pre-pandemic theater season featured two plays by Black writers, and one of them had been kicking around since 1981. The previous season, there was one such play, and the season before that, zero. This season, if all goes as planned, there will be at least seven. The sudden abundance, after decades of scarcity, is a response to criticism the theater industry, like so many others, has confronted since the widespread protests over police brutality that followed last year’s killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Facing scrutiny over what kinds of stories are told onstage, and who makes decisions offstage, Broadway’s gatekeepers have opened their doors to more Black writers, at least for the moment. “I did not expect it, to be honest with you,” said Douglas Lyons, who turned to writing while performing in the ... More

Bringing Broadway spectacle back to life
NEW YORK, NY.- On March 12, 2020, Broadway went dark. Curtains down. Ghost lights on. Doors locked. The actors scattered. A lucky few retreated to vacation homes, a lot of newbies moved back to mom and dad’s, and many hunkered down in New York, waiting for the pandemic to pass. But what happened to the other stars of the show — those visual effects that bring the dazzle to the razzle? Here’s how five returning shows are making sure some of their signature spectacles are ready for prime time. Warning: spoilers ahead. Eight times a week, for 32 years until the pandemic struck, a giant chandelier swooped over the audience and crashed onto the stage as the first act of “The Phantom of the Opera” ended at the Majestic Theater. The 1-ton, 6,000-bead chandelier is not only Broadway’s most famous stage effect, but also its oldest. ... More

Shayne Doty joins New-York Historical Society as Chief Strategy Officer
NEW YORK, NY.- The New-York Historical Society, the oldest museum in New York City, announced that Shayne Doty has been appointed Chief Strategy Officer. In this role, Doty will work in close partnership with New-York Historical’s President and CEO Louise Mirrer, the Board of Trustees, and Vice President for Development Matthew Bregman to identify and implement strategies for growth in contributed revenue and fundraising activities, with a specific focus on the current capital campaign for the Museum’s building expansion and New-York Historical’s partnership with the American LGBTQ+ Museum. Last June, New-York Historical announced a major expansion of its building on Central Park West that will add more than 70,000 square feet to its footprint and also host the permanent home of the American LGBTQ+ Museum, New York’s first museum dedicated ... More

The Frye Art Museum opens the first major survey exhibition of Duane Linklater's work
SEATTLE, WA.- The Frye Art Museum is presenting Duane Linklater: mymothersside (on view September 18, 2021–January 16, 2022), an exhibition that brings together sculptures, video works, and digital prints on linen from the past decade of the artist’s practice, as well as new adaptations of installations that he has continually revisited and revised. Linklater will also make modifications to the exhibition midway through its run, creating a presentation that embodies the fluidity and improvisation vital to his approach to art making. Duane Linklater works across a range of mediums to address the contradictions of contemporary Indigenous life within—and beyond—settler systems of knowledge, representation, and value. Breaching the boundaries of the galleries, the exhibition spills out into the courtyard and culminates in an architectural ... More

Furniture by renowned 20th century designers Charles and Henry Greene headed to Heritage design event
DALLAS, TX.- Few designers can withstand comparison to Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene, whose blend of sublime designs and superior craftmanship made theirs the preeminent California Arts and Crafts architectural firm of the early 20th century. The brothers' ability to marry creative but sensitive designs with superior craftmanship made the demand for their work soar … so much so that more than a century later, four lots from their firm will grab a share of the spotlight when they are sold Sept. 30 in Heritage Auctions' Design Auction. In 1911, Greene & Greene designed the Cordelia Culbertson House in Pasadena, California for three unmarried sisters: Cordelia, Kate and Margaret Culbertson, and subsequently conceived and sourced furnishings for the home. Both the home and the furnishings included a measure ... More

Exhibition of new works by Cuban artist Yoan Capote opens at Ben Brown Fine Arts
LONDON.- Ben Brown Fine Arts is presenting Requiem, an exhibition of new works by Cuban artist Yoan Capote. This is the artist’s fourth solo exhibition with Ben Brown Fine Arts, and third solo exhibition at the London gallery. Now open at the London gallery, the exhibition presents a new progression in the artist’s practice with the introduction of gold leaf into his iconic seascape paintings. The dazzling gold leaf, monumental scale, and meticulous incorporation of fishhooks in these paintings evoke a spiritual quality, inviting reflection and refuge in a time of great upheaval. The gallery space has been transformed by the installation of these vast canvases – among the largest works ever created by the artist – immersing the viewer from the perspective of being surrounded by sea, on an island similar to Capote’s Cuba. The tantalizing horizon ... More

Sondheim is writing a new musical and hopes to stage it next year
NEW YORK, NY.- Stephen Sondheim, the 91-year-old composer and lyricist widely regarded as among the greatest musical theater artists in history, is writing another show and said he hopes that a production will be staged next year. “I’ve been working on a show for a couple years with a playwright named David Ives, and it’s called ‘Square One,’” Sondheim said Wednesday night during an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” “And we had a reading of it last week, and we were encouraged, so we’re going to go ahead with it. With any luck, we’ll get it on next season,” Sondheim said. He did not reveal any other details, and he did not immediately respond to an email seeking clarification. But actor Nathan Lane, in an appearance earlier Wednesday on “Today,” said he had participated in the reading last week. “I just did a reading ... More


PhotoGalleries

Met Gala 2021

RIBA National Award winners 2021

Richard Twose Past Imperfect

34th Bienal de São Paulo


Flashback
On a day like today, Dutch realist painter Anton Mauve was born
September 18, 1838. Anthonij (Anton) Rudolf Mauve (18 September 1838, Zaandam, North Holland - 5 February 1888, Arnhem) was a Dutch realist painter who was a leading member of the Hague School. He signed his paintings 'A. Mauve' or with a monogrammed 'A.M.'. A master colorist, he was a very significant early influence on his cousin-in-law Vincent van Gogh. In this image: Morning Ride on the Beach (1876), oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum.

  
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