| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Sunday, June 30, 2024 |
| | Napoleon's loot: When the world decided stolen art should go back | |
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Paulus Potters The Bull (1647), now at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands. In 1815, other nations forcibly reclaimed from the Louvre The Bull and many other art treasures plundered by the French during the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. (Mauritshuis via The New York Times)
AMSTERDAM.- In September 1815, Karl von Müffling, the Prussian governor of Paris, presented himself at the doors of the Louvre and ordered its French guards to step aside. Belgian and Dutch officials, backed by Prussian and British troops, had arrived to reclaim art treasures plundered by the French during the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. This moment is recognized by many scholars as a sea change in political attitudes toward the spoils of war and is seen as the birth of repatriation, the concept of returning cultural goods taken ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Installation view of the Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio.
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| Amid challenges, small New York City museums are closing their doors | | A trilobite Pompeii preserves exquisite fossils in volcanic ash | | Mikhail Baryshnikov on leaving everything behind |
Fotografiska New York, a photography museum, in New York, June 11, 2024. (Graham Dickie/The New York Times)
NEW YORK, NY.- Small museums that have helped define the unique character of New York Citys artistic scene are moving, changing or calling it quits, citing a challenging economic climate. Last week, the Center for Italian Modern Art ceased operations after more than a decade in Manhattans SoHo neighborhood and said it was looking for a university to take its archive. In May, news ... More | |
A 3-D model of the trilobite Protolenus, which was found in the High Atlas of Morocco and which lived in 500 million years ago.
NEW YORK, NY.- Hundreds of millions of years ago, trilobites could be found all over the Earth. Cloaked in tough exoskeletons, the animals left behind countless fossils to be studied by paleontologists today. Despite all those preserved shells, scientists have been unable to understand certain aspects of trilobite anatomy after centuries of study, especially the soft internal ... More | |
Mikhail Baryshnikov at the arts center that bears his name, in Manhattan, June 24, 2024. (Erik Tanner/The New York Times)
NEW YORK, NY.- On the night of June 29, 1974, after a performance with a touring Bolshoi Ballet troupe in downtown Toronto, Mikhail Baryshnikov made his way out a stage door, past a throng of fans and began to run. Baryshnikov, then 26 and already one of ballets brightest stars, had made the momentous decision to defect from the Soviet Union and build a career ... More |
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| Philadelphia's 'Sunflowers' to travel from the U.S. for the National Gallery to recreate Van Gogh's idea of a triptych | | "Forensic Science on Trial" exhibition explores what happens when science enters the courtroom | | Following restoration, Rubens's 'The Judgement of Paris' returns to public display with new discoveries revealed |
Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1889. Oil on canvas, 92.4 à 71.1 cm. The Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Tyson, Jr., Collection (1963-116-19) © Philadelphia Museum of Art.
LONDON.- One of Vincent van Goghs 'Sunflowers' paintings from Arles in France is to travel outside the United States for the first time since it was acquired in 1935 offering the unique opportunity to realise one of Van Goghs ideas for a decorative arrangement. The picture, now at Philadelphia ... More | |
Polygraph (cardio-pneumo-psychograph); 1921. Gift of City of Berkeley Police Department. Photo by Jaclyn Nash, National Museum of American History.
WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonians National Museum of American History opened Forensic Science on Trial, a new exhibition that explores the way people influence the development, presentation and interpretation of forensic science. The one-year exhibition will run through June 2025 in the museums 1,000-square-foot Albert H. Small ... More | |
Britta New, Conservator, inspecting the new vertical battens of the cradle support for The Judgement of Paris. © The National Gallery, London.
LONDON.- Following a 14-month restoration carried out in the Gallerys Conservation Department and supported by Bank of America Art Conservation Project, The Judgement of Paris (probably 1632‒5) by Peter Paul Rubens (1577‒1640) returns to public display today (18 June). On 10 May 2024, the National Gallery celebrated its 200th ... More |
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| 'Discover Degas & Miss La La' debuts never-before-seen sketches by Degas and photographs of Miss La La | | The Guggenheim Bilbao opens the first major solo exhibition of Yoshitomo Nara's work to be held in an European museum | | Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is only U.S. venue for major retrospective of Thomas Demand |
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, 1879 Oil on canvas, 117.2 à 77.5 cm © The National Gallery, London.
LONDON.- In June 2024, as part of the National Gallerys free Discover series, Degass Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, 1879, takes centre stage. This landmark Impressionist painting records an extraordinary moment and features a remarkable sitter the circus artist Miss La La, (her stage name; she was born Anna Albertine ... More | |
Yoshitomo Nara, Blankey, 2012. Acrylic on canvas, 194.8 à 162 cm. Private collection © Yoshitomo Nara, courtesy Yoshitomo Nara Foundation.
BILBAO.- This retrospective exhibition reveals and explores the intriguing world of Yoshitomo Nara. It takes us on a journey through his evolving creativity from the origins of his ideas. Organized by theme, rather than chronologically or according to technique and materials, the exhibition offers an insight into Naras conceptual and formal ... More | |
Thomas Demand, Daily #22, 2014, framed dye transfer print, courtesy of Thomas Demand Studio. © Thomas Demand, VG BildKunst, Bonn.
HOUSTON, TX.- German artist Thomas Demand has spent three decades exploring the intersections of history, photography, and memory. His large-scale photographic works investigate the way images embed themselves in a societys collective memory. From June 30 through September 15, 2024, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will present ... More |
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| She wants to save the arts in Britain (if she can get elected) | | Alison Jacques opens an exhibition of work by Austrian artist Birgit Jürgenssen | | Vienna's Secession opens an exhibition of works by Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo |
Thangam Debbonaire, who developed the Labour Partys election platform on the arts, in Bristol, England, June 21, 2024. (Francesca Jones/The New York Times)
BRISTOL.- For the past 14 years, Conservative-led governments in Britain said they wanted to maintain the countrys status as a cultural powerhouse, to foster new talent and to keep the home of the Beatles and Harry Potter in the global spotlight. Their actions havent matched those words. ... More | |
Birgit Jürgenssen, Untitled, 1974.
LONDON.- Alison Jacques presents an exhibition of work by Austrian artist Birgit Jürgenssen (b.1949; d.2003). Her practice examines womens interior lives refracted in exterior systems of power. Many of Jürgenssens works focus on the domestic life of a mythic figure, the hausfrau: an ideal bourgeois Austrian housewife. This exhibition showcases the conceptual and material diversity of Jürgenssens work, ... More | |
Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo, Statement, 2024, performance, Secession. Photo: Oliver Ottenschläger.
VIENNA.- For her exhibition Achievement at the Secession, Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo has developed a new installation, a performance, and an intervention into the building. All three works articulate feminist, anti- racist, and anti-colonial counter-visions, turning the spotlight on the achievements of Black women and championing a form of healing. In the Graphic Cabinet, the ... More |
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How to craft intricate clay insects inspired by Jan van Kessel
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Martin Mull, comic actor who starred in 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,' dies at 80NEW YORK, NY.- Martin Mull, a comedic actor, musician and artist who gained widespread attention in the 1970s in shows such as Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Fernwood 2-Night, and remained active in television and film over the next half-century, died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 80. His wife, Wendy, confirmed his death. He died after a long illness, his family said. No cause was given. In Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Mull played Garth Gimble, a domestic abuser who met his demise by being impaled on the star atop an aluminum Christmas tree. He starred in the shows subsequent spinoff, Fernwood 2-Night, a 1977 parody of talk shows. He played talk-show host Barth Gimble, the twin brother of Garth Gimble. With an undistinguished blond mustache, which may or may not be intended as a joke, Barth copes manic‐depressively ... More South by Southwest cuts ties to U.S. Army after Gaza-inspired boycottNEW YORK, NY.- The South by Southwest festival, which dozens of artists withdrew from this year to protest its sponsorship by the U.S. Army and defense contractors in light of their ties to Israel, announced this week that it would no longer accept their support. After careful consideration, we are revising our sponsorship model, the festival, which is held each year in Austin, Texas, said in a brief statement on its website. As a result, the U.S. Army, and companies who engage in weapons manufacturing, will not be sponsors of SXSW 2025. No further details were offered, and SXSW declined to elaborate on the statement. A group called the Austin for Palestine Coalition said in a social media post in March, at the time of the festival, that more than 80 bands, artists and panelists had declined to attend in solidarity with Palestine. The Army hopes to work with SXSW again someday. ... More Michael Jackson died with $500 million in debtNEW YORK, NY.- Michael Jacksons debts and creditors claims at the time of his death in 2009 totaled more than $500 million, according to a court filing by the pop superstars estate that provides details of his financial woes toward the end of his life. Jackson owed about $40 million to tour promoter AEG, according to the filing, which was made in Los Angeles County Superior Court this month and earlier reported by People magazine. The filing said that 65 creditors made claims against the singer after his death, some of which resulted in lawsuits, and that some of his debt had been accruing interest at extremely high interest rates. A representative for the Jackson estate, which is executed by John Branca and John McClain, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The estate filed the court papers as a request to authorize ... More Paul Sperry, tenor who specialized in American song, dies at 90NEW YORK, NY.- Paul Sperry, a tenor who championed little-known American art song and spiky contemporary works, and was praised for his incisive performances of the classics, died June 13 in New York. He was 90. His death, in a hospital, was caused by heart failure, his son Ethan said. In a discipline where his peers tended to stick to tried-and-true German and French classics from the 19th and 20th centuries, Sperry carved out a niche, singing songs by living composers from his own country. But he also took on some of the most difficult late-20th-century Europeans, like Karlheinz Stockhausen and Hans Werner Henze, who had been shunned by many singers. That boldness earned him steady work, his son recalled. Sperry, a Harvard Business School graduate who eschewed a career in real estate and turned to singing, his first love, ... More Emily Henry on writing bestsellers without tours and TikTokCINCINNATI, OH.- Emily Henry has never been on a book tour or done a traditional bookstore reading. Shes not on TikTok. Her Instagram features book covers and an occasional giveaway; there are no closet tours, rescue cats or elegantly plated snacks. Henry doesnt want to be, as she puts it, a writer slash mini-celebrity. Shes a romance novelist, full stop. Its an uncommon, maybe even gutsy, approach in the era of the all-access pass, when readers of popular fiction expect a level of quasi intimacy with favorite writers. Nevertheless, Henry EmHen to fans has launched five No. 1 bestsellers in four years. Her latest blockbuster, Funny Story, has been on the bestseller list for nine weeks. In its first two months, the book racked up almost 60,000 customer reviews on Goodreads and sparked a cottage industry of T-shirts, sweatshirts, candles, ... More The incredible disappearing dressNEW YORK, NY.- The Balenciaga couture show opened with a meditation and ended with a storm cloud one designed to disappear. Thats either a statement of faith in the future or a lot of hot air. Maybe both. In place of the usual finale wedding gown, Demna, the brands mononymous designer, offered up 47 meters (155 feet) of the kind of black nylon normally used inside ballgowns wound round and round the models head and body like mist, with neither seams nor fastenings. Thirty minutes before the show, the dress didnt exist, Demna said backstage. After the show, it wouldnt either. When you are talking about couture, where the hours of handwork that go into a piece contribute to what is often an outrageous price, and the result is meant to last forever, thats blasphemy of the highest kind. Its also the next step in ... More The vanishing islands that failed to vanishDHIGULAABADHOO.- On a wisp of land in the Indian Ocean, two hops by plane and one bumpy speedboat ride from the nearest continent, the sublime blue waves lapping at the bone-white sand are just about all that breaks the stillness of a hot, windless afternoon. The very existence of low-slung tropical islands seems improbable, a glitch. A nearly seamless meeting of land and sea, peeking up like an illusion above the violent oceanic expanse, they are among the most marginal environments humans have ever called home. And indeed, when the world began paying attention to global warming decades ago, these islands, which form atop coral reefs in clusters called atolls, were quickly identified as some of the first places climate change might ravage in their entirety. As the ice caps melted and the seas crept higher, these accidents ... More Overlooked no more: Otto Lucas, 'god in the hat world'NEW YORK, NY.- To many fashionable women in the mid-20th century, no hat was worth wearing unless it was made by Otto Lucas. A London-based milliner, Lucas designed chic turbans, berets and cloches, often made from luxe velvets and silks and adorned with flowers or feathers. His designs made it onto the covers of magazines like British Vogue, and onto the heads of clients who reportedly included actresses Greta Garbo and Gene Tierney, and the duchesses of Windsor and Kent. The name Otto Lucas was ubiquitous in England, and at the height of his success, he sold thousands of hats each year around the world. He must have been the most famous milliner of the 60s, Philip Somerville, an assistant to Lucas who later designed hats for Queen Elizabeth II, told The Liverpool Echo in 1984. His name was God in the hat world. ... More A woman sleeping with her stepson? This director knows it may shock.NEW YORK, NY.- When French director Catherine Breillat was 40, her then-husband and the father of her first child ended their relationship to be with a much younger woman. Soon after, Breillat started dating a man 12 years her junior. Men want to repudiate their wives of a certain age by saying they couldnt be loved by anyone anymore, Breillat said in a recent video interview via an interpreter. But for me, thats not true. I want to tell other women theres no cause for despair. In Last Summer, which hit theaters Friday, she probes at this realization through an incendiary premise. Since the 1970s, the lauded director, now 75, has repeatedly focused her unflinching gaze on the troubled sexual awakenings of girls, often in the uncaring hands of older men, but in Last Summer, that dynamic is inverted: A middle-aged lawyer, Anne (Léa Drucker), ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Gabriele Münter 
TARWUK 
Awol Erizku 
Leo Villareal
Flashback On a day like today, English painter Stanley Spencer was born June 30, 1891. Sir Stanley Spencer CBE RA (30 June 1891 - 14 December 1959) was an English painter. Shortly after leaving the Slade School of Art, Spencer became well known for his paintings depicting Biblical scenes occurring as if in Cookham, the small village beside the River Thames where he was born and spent much of his life. In this image: Sarah Tubb and the Heavenly Visitors, 1933 by Stanley Spencer © Estate of Stanley Spencer, Bridgeman Images, London.
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