| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Sunday, April 19, 2020 |
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| | Rockefeller Center's Art Deco marvel: A virtual tour | |
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Lee Lawries Atlas sculpture in New York, April 11, 2020. With New Yorkers self-quarantining, Rockefeller Center conjures up the promise of life returning to normal someday and the unshakable glory of the city. Vincent Tullo/The New York Times.
by Michael Kimmelman
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- With New Yorkers self-quarantining, Rockefeller Center conjures up the promise of life returning to normal someday and the unshakable glory of the city. It was New Yorks Depression-era version of building the pyramids. When it opened during the 1930s, the critic Lewis Mumford heaped abuse on it, then seemed to forget that he had ever said anything bad after it became a beloved emblem of art deco-era Manhattan and a midtown magnet. Or as the famous Gershwin song from the time put it, They all laughed at Rockefeller Center, now theyre fighting to get in. Not at the moment, of course. This is the latest in a series of condensed and edited architectural walks around town, which for the time being I am conducting with architects and others virtually, meaning via phone and Google maps. Theyre meant to be consumed virtually, too. Daniel Okrent is many things a prolific historian, ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day A picture taken on April 18, 2020 show the Great pyramids lighten-up with blue light and reading with a laser projection the message "Stay Home" on the Giza plateau outside the Egyptian capital of Cairo, on the world heritage day, as the country fights against the spread of the COVID-19, (the novel coronavirus). Khaled DESOUKI / AFP
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 | | Online now, Michelangelo at the Getty | | Exhibition presents prints by Louise Bourgeois published between 1988-2004 by Peter Blum Edition | | Barry Flanagan exhibition on view in the Kasmin Sculpture Garden | 
Gallery view of the now-closed exhibition Michelangelo: Mind of the Master at the Getty Center.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- In the last few hours before the staff left the Getty Museum as part of Los Angeless safer-at-home initiative, curators shot some short videos in the exhibition Michelangelo: Mind of the Master, which had opened to the public on February 25, and which is closed for now. Exhibition curator Julian Brooks reflects on that hurried tour of the galleries and shares the first video here. Check back in at the Iris or on Facebook for the next ones. Michelangelo: Mind of the Master brings a collection of rare Michelangelo drawings of the highest quality to Los Angeles through June 7, 2020, offering visitors the opportunity to see first-hand the genesis of some of the masters most iconic works. Michelangelo (1475-1564) is widely acknowledged as one of the most creative and influential artists in the history of western art. Indeed, his most famous worksfrom the marble David in Florence to the fre ... More | | 
Louise Bourgeois, Sainte Sebastienne, 1992. Drypoint, 47 1/2 x 37 inches (120.7 x 94 cm). Edition of 50 + proofs.
NEW YORK, NY.- Peter Blum Gallery is presenting Louise Bourgeois: Prints Published by Peter Blum Edition celebrating the collaboration between artist and print publisher from 1988-2004, featuring ten available prints and portfolios. Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris in 1911, and she passed away in New York in 2010. Over the course of nearly a century, Bourgeois would become known for her sculptures, drawing, and prints that emerged from emotions she struggled with throughout her life. The artist's printed oeuvre, both figurative and abstract, includes subject matter she revisited across decades offering insight towards her creative process and her personal history. "A lot of people are so obessed by the past, they die of it. This is the attitude of the poet who never finds the lost heaven, and it is really the situation of artists who work for a reason that nobody ... More | | 
Barry Flanagan in the Kasmin Sculpture Garden. Photography by Christopher Stach. © 2020 The Estate of Barry Flanagan.
NEW YORK, NY.- Kasmin Sculpture Garden presents an exhibition of three large-scale bronze sculptures by Welsh sculptor Barry Flanagan (19412009). Representing significant examples of the artists later work featuring his signature motif of the hare, the works are situated on the roof of the gallerys 509 West 27th Street space and on view from The High Line at 28th Street. As New York City parks remain temporarily closed, the exhibition can be enjoyed remotely via the gallery's digital channels until normal opening hours resume. In the late 1970s, Flanagan began to distill his decades-long fascination with ontology, movement, and materiality into the figure of the hare. He was fascinated by the animals anthropomorphic potentialits ability to magnify a range of expressive attributes and to convey meaning and feeling beyond what he felt was possible in the manifestation ... More |
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| | In Australia, an architect designs for a future offire | | Fernando Miteff, 60, graffiti artist with a generous spirit, dies | | Minecraft for art? Virtual galleries grab gamers' attention | 
Architect Ian Weir at Apex Point House, which he designed with steel cladding to keep out stray embers, in White Beach, Australia, Feb. 27, 2020. Alana Holmberg/The New York Times.
by Casey Quackenbush
WHITE BEACH (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- As a child, Ian Weir used to set fire to the bush. In his small hometown outside Bremer Bay in Western Australia, dozens would partake in mass clearings by fire in the 1960s. First, large bulldozers would clear about 300 acres of trees and shrubs and push it all into a massive pile. Once the vegetation dried, residents would line up around the perimeter, dip rag-covered sticks into drums of gasoline and light it on fire. With just a slight breeze, the entire landscape would ignite. It would literally create an atom bomb mushroom cloud, Weir said. Brutal. The destruction of one of the most ancient, biodiverse regions in the world scarred Weir and helped shape his vision as a professional bush-fire architect: Make the bush your ally, not the enemy. The clearing was part of a soldier resettlement scheme where 133 farms were doled out to white military veterans, including Weirs father. The experience ... More | | 
The graffiti artist Fernando Miteff sits on a New York subway train under one of his signature Kilroy pieces. David Gonzalez/The New York Times.
by David Gonzalez
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Fernando Miteff liked his art so much, he gave it away. Using the graffiti tag Nic 707, he was known for giving scraps of paper adorned with his graceful letter designs and outlines to up-and-coming artists to guide them, and to fans to thank them. And for the past decade he did something most straphangers thought had vanished in the late 1980s: He brought graffiti back to New Yorks subways. But this time, he did it by boarding a train, replacing ads with pieces by some of the countrys best-known and most influential graffiti artists, like Taki 183, and switching them back at the end of his ride. I wanted to bring a new ideology to graffiti, he said in a 2015 interview about his guerrilla subway car exhibits, which he called InstaFame Phantom Art. I didnt want to leave a mark that stays. I wanted to leave an impression. As long as you saw and remembered it, Im happy with that. Miteff died April 12 at his home in the Bronx. He was 60. The ... More | | 
Several real-life, bricks-and-mortar museums have recently made approaches to discuss collaborations, said Yarden Yaroshevski, the chief executive of StickiPixels, the London-based tech firm behind Occupy White Walls. (He wouldnt say which.)
by Andrew Dickson
LONDON (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Its not a good time to open a gallery. Art fairs have been canceled; auctions put on hold. Even major museums have furloughed or fired staff. If the coronavirus crisis turns into an economic meltdown, many small and midsize spaces are unlikely to make it. But one corner of the art world albeit a virtual one seems in the pink. The virtual exhibition space and multiplayer game Occupy White Walls, which bills itself as an art platform of the future, has attracted 10,000 users in the past month, to add to the 40,000 people who had already signed up. Since its launch 15 months ago, gamers have created some 50,000 galleries covering some 215 million virtual square feet. Several real-life, bricks-and-mortar museums have recently made approaches to discuss collaborations, said Yarden Yaroshevski, the chief executive of StickiPixels, ... More |
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| | Sotheby's announces Hong Kong 2020 Spring Sales full schedule | | Major public art project pop-ups across New York City's intersections and iconic locations | | Black artists banding together to support Museum of the African Diaspora | 
Sanyu, Quatre Nus 1950s (detail), oil on masonite, 100 by 122 cm, estimate upon request. Courtesy Sotheby's.
HONG KONG.- Following the rescheduling update on 25 March in response to the Covid-19 virus outbreak, Sothebys announced the full schedule of its 2020 Spring Sales series. The week-long sale series will be held on 5 11 July at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, featuring a wide range of rarities, including Chinese ceramics and paintings, modern and contemporary art, jewellery, watches and wine. Kevin Ching, CEO of Sothebys Asia, comments: Over the past month, we have witnessed enthusiastic participation from collectors in our online sales programme, driving solid results that demonstrate the resilience of the art market. As the situation stabilizes in Asia, we are pleased to confirm the full schedule of our Hong Kong Spring Sales, which always represent an unrivalled collecting opportunity ... More | | 
Work by Ola Baldych.
NEW YORK, NY.- Starting today in New York City, nearly 1,800 digital billboards and screens across all five boroughs will begin displaying messages of public safety, gratitude, pride, and solidarity with essential workers. The project will radiate out from New York Citys iconic Times Square, and reach all five boroughs through 1,774 LinkNYC kiosks and Silvercast billboards above the Lincoln Tunnel, all digital spaces donated to the project. The expansive campaign is the result of a partnership between New York City museum Poster House and Times Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance. The initiative will roll-out in two phases. First with graphic designers rallied by Print Magazine in collaboration with Poster House, then with contemporary artists in collaboration with For Freedoms and Times Square Arts. This citywide PSA campaign is an incredible opportunity for artists to ... More | | 
Amoako Boafo, Untitled, 2020, Oil on canvas, 70cm x 50cm, Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim Gallery.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The Museum of the African Diaspora is launching its first benefit auction, as artists, donors, businesses, collectors, and individuals have banded together to ensure the vitality of this significant institution. During this critical need, the art world is in solidarity to support the institution as a foundational platform for artists of African descent in the Bay Area and throughout the world. Partnering with Artsy, the online auction will open on April 21st and close on May 5th, 2020. In creating an expansive, yet focused auction representing the infinite iterations of the African diaspora, MoAD presents works by artists who have close ties to the Museum in support of its mission and at a juncture in its survival. The auction will consist of a collection of new and previously displayed works from artists across the world. The works, ... More |
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| | The Mint Museum celebrates the life of pioneering heart surgeon and art collector Dr. Francis Robicsek | | Qatar musicians give balcony gig to banish virus blues | | Moraes Moreira, 72, dies; Brazilian songwriter and 'cowboy of sound' | 
For decades, Robicsek worked to expand healthcare facilities and operations in Central American countries, including Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Belize and El Salvador.
by Todd A. Herman, PhDcamera, and go exploring.
CHARLOTTE, NC.- It is with heavyyet gratefulhearts that The Mint Museum recognizes and celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Francis Robicsek, who passed away peacefully at his Charlotte home on April 3, at the age of 94. Robicsek was best known for being a world-renowned heart surgeon who performed some of Charlottes first open-heart operations. Over his 64-year career, he performed the citys first heart transplant, founded the Sanger Clinic (now Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute), and was known for his steady hand and improvisation in some extraordinary situations. (Consider this: On New Years Eve in 1964, when a fellow doctors heart stopped on a hospital elevator, Robicsek proceeded to cut the mans chest open with suture scissors, massage the heart, and then shock it back into rhythm with the cord from a table lamp.) But the doctor who fled Soviet control in his native count ... More | | 
Members of Qatar's Philharmonic Orchestra perform from their balconies to punctuate the monotony of social distancing as the weekend begins, April 17, 2020 in Doha during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. AFP.
DOHA (AFP).- Strains of Bizet's Carmen reverberated around Doha's man-made Pearl island as members of Qatar's philharmonic orchestra performed from balconies to punctuate the monotony of lockdown. Bars, restaurants, cinemas and mosques are shut to contain the spread of coronavirus. But those within earshot of the musical neighbours have been treated to renditions of numbers including Elton John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", both this Friday and last. "Everyone plays a bit. We are four in total," said Nicole Pressler, the QPO's principal flautist who was joined by a harpist, a trumpet player and a violinist. Pressler lifted her son up to hear applause and cheers from residents and passersby during a break in the performance as a couple embraced and swayed on a nearby balcony. More accustomed to playing to packed crowds at the ultra-modern Qatar National Convention Centre and the Katara Opera House, the artists decided to play from home "very ... More | | 
Baby do Brasil and Moraes Moreira. Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP.
by Jon Pareles
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Moraes Moreira, an exuberantly prolific Brazilian songwriter who fused the regional traditions of his home state, Bahia, with an ever-changing array of styles in a career that stretched from the late 1960s through the 2010s, died Monday at his home in Rio de Janeiro. He was 72. His son Davi Moraes said the cause was a heart attack. Moreira was the main composer in Os Novos Baianos (the New Bahians), whose early-1970s albums were both hits and cultural milestones in Brazil. Most of their songs had music by Moreira and lyrics by Luiz Galvão. In 2007, Rolling Stone Brasil named Os Novos Baianos 1972 album, Acabou Chorare (The Crying Is Over) which mixed, among other things, bossa nova, samba, rock and the vintage Brazilian style called choro the most important album in the history of Brazilian music. Moreira moved on to a solo career that would encompass dozens of albums over four decades. His songs were also recorded by many leading Brazilian p ... More |
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Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde
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 Taipei Biennial 2020 announces first wave of participating artistsTAIPEI.- Taipei Fine Arts Museum announced an international participating list of 39 participants from 18 countries and territories for the 12th edition of the Taipei Biennial, scheduled from October 24, 2020 to February 28, 2021 at Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Co-curated by Bruno Latour and Martin Guinard with Eva Lin (public programs), and titled You and I Dont Live on the Same Planet, this years biennial aims to introduce political and diplomatic tactics into the realm of environmental discussions. Bruno Latour and Martin Guinard relate, It seems that the divisions on ecological questions are so great that disagreements are no longer about differences of vision or point of view about the world but a question of the material nature of the very planet that we are talking about. Ecology has continuously tried to unify us all so that a collective action would take place. Metaphorica ... More Alas, poor New York: Shakespeare in the Park is canceledNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Free Shakespeare in the Park, a treasured rite of summer in New York, will not take place this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The annual festival, staged as the sun sets in an open-air amphitheater surrounded by trees, is just too big and too soon to pull together at a time when no one knows when large gatherings will be permitted again. This is something I mightily resisted, said Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater, which founded and runs the festival. But its just clear to us at this point that theres no way we can responsibly prepare, build and rehearse to get shows open in a timing that might match the quarantines timing. The pandemic has forced the cancellation of programming and taken a huge financial toll at arts institutions around the world. Even as elected officials ... More Beethoven the avant-gardist: A pianist makes his caseNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- If Beethoven has been everywhere in this year of his 250th birthday, innovative ways of presenting his music have not. Among the symphony cycles, string quartet surveys and re-enactments of his most famous concerts, few artists have asked us explicitly to rethink what Beethoven might mean for us today. Pierre-Laurent Aimard has done that or was planning to. A restless intellect as incisive in Bach as he is intelligible in Boulez, the French pianist, 62, was scheduled to give recitals at the Celebrity Series of Boston and the 92nd Street Y in New York before the coronavirus outbreak intervened recitals that would have put Beethoven in the context of other avant-gardists. Crossing the centuries over two programs, Aimard intended to pair an early serialist work by Schoenberg, the Five Piano Pieces, with an early ... More SoCal Museums offers 30+ digital programs for K-12 from museums across regionLOS ANGELES, CA.- In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous cultural institutions across Southern California are offering K-12 educational resources for families and teachers to utilize while they shelter at home. SoCal Museums has compiled dozens of new and compelling online educational opportunities for children of all ages, presented by more than thirty Southern California museums and cultural institutions. These resources reflect a range of subjectsfrom contemporary and historical art to science to fashionand employ different learning modalities, from virtual instruction to activity books to storytelling. They are presented from institutions large and small across the region. For more than fifteen years, SoCal Museums has made arts and culture more accessible to our communities, including visitors from outside the ... More Elmwood's Auctioneers to hold charity jewellery auction for the National Emergencies TrustLONDON.- A Red Cross, known as a symbol of help and support around the world, is one of the main highlights of a special online jewellery charity auction to be held by Elmwoods Auctioneers in West London this month. The auction is to raise much-needed funds for the National Emergencies Trust, a charity that is helping local communities affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. The sale of beautiful, yet affordable jewellery, will take place online at 2pm on Thursday, April 23rd, 2020. Commenting on the decision to hold the sale, Elmwoods auctioneers Director, Samuel Hill said: In this difficult time we wanted to help contribute in some way and this is what we know best, so it seemed the right thing to do. We hope that people will not only find the sale interesting, as were offering a fabulous array of affordable antique and vintage jewellery specifically ... More Huge public response to Firstsite 'Art is where the home is' as version 2 launchedCOLCHESTER.- Art is where the home is a ground-breaking initiative by Firstsite in Colchester to help keep children and young people entertained and engaged during the current coronavirus lockdown is proving a huge success 2 weeks after being launched. The gallery asked artists it has worked with in the past - including Antony Gormley, Jeremy Deller, Gillian Wearing, Michael Landy, Ryan Gander, Idris Khan and Annie Morris - to create a fun activity which fits onto on e piece of A4 paper and doesnt require special equipment. Combined, the activities create a downloadable activity pack which is available for free at www.firstsite.uk The activities are for everyone though particularly perfect for children and young people to do at home along with their parents and carers. They are designed to be fun, educational and bring people ... More Diverse artworks created for Bradford Morrow's A Bestiary featured in Heritage Prints & Multiples AuctionDALLAS, TX.- A rare collection of artwork by an assortment of artists that appeared in a book of fables and prose poems by Bradford Morrow could bring $7,000 or more in Heritage Auctions Prints & Multiples Auction April 21 in Dallas, Texas. A Bestiary, 1990 (estimate: $5,000-7,000) is a selection of 36 woodcuts, linocuts and pochoir prints on Somerset wove paper by 18 of the most revered American contemporary artists. Artists whose work is included in the set include, but are not limited to Gregory Amenoff, Joe Andoe, Vija Clemins, Louisa Chase, Eric Fischl, James Nares, Ellen Phelan, Kiki Smith, Richard Tuttle and Robert Winters. "This is an extraordinary collection of artwork from A Bestiary, which began as nothing more than an effort to entertain Bradford Morrow and his friends, Heritage Auctions Vice President Frank Hettig said. "Each fable ... More MCA Australia launches online program Your MCASYDNEY.- The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia announced its new digital initiative Your MCA providing ways to connect with contemporary art and Australian artists while the Museum is closed. The MCA is dedicated to connecting communities to contemporary art and artists and this is equally important during challenging times. Your MCA offers free, online creative learning programs for a broad range of audiences to inspire and spark people's own creativity. The program includes kids and families art activities for the April school holidays, inspired by the 22nd Biennale of Sydney NIRIN exhibition; a youth-led online GENEXT for teens aged 12 to 18 years; conversations between MCA curators and leading Australian and international artists on what it means to be an artist working today; and online learning programs for parents and teachers ... More Santa Fe Indian Market welcomes new directorSANTA FE, NM.- After a nationwide search, SWAIAs Board of Directors announced the selection of Kim Peone as its new Executive Director. Peone is an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington and currently resides in Santa Fe. The Board is excited by the impressive background Peone brings to SWAIA to lead Indian Market through our Centennial year (2022) and into the next century. Peones 30 years of experience in Indian Country, astute business and financial background, as well as great managerial and leadership skills were a perfect fit for SWAIAs needs going forward, said Board Chair Tom Teegarden. Peones father Richard (Eastern Band of Cherokee), and mother Annabelle (Colville Confederated Tribes), met while attending the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and started a family. Peone was ... More P.D.S.A. Dickin Medal for Gallantry awarded to the cock-pigeon sells for £27,280 at Dix Noonan Webb LONDON.- The emotive P.D.S.A. Dickin Medal for Gallantry - The Animals V.C. - awarded to the cock-pigeon Duke of Normandy for his gallantry on D-Day, 6 June 1944 fetched £27,280 more than three times its pre-sale estimate - at Dix Noonan Webb in their online/ live auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria today (Thursday, April 16, 2020). The medal was bought over the telephone by Private Client, based in the UK, who collects items with strong stories. Owned by Gaston Noterman, a naturalised Belgian and master organ builder living and working in Shepherds Bush, London, Duke of Normandy was the first bird to arrive home with vital intelligence from behind enemy lines after an epic 26 hours and 50 minutes flight [Lot 777]. Auctioneer, Oliver Pepys, Associate Director, Dix Noonan Webb commented: This Dickin ... More Pax Romana April 26 auction surveys Art of Asia: from Antiquity to Present DayLONDON.- On April 26, Britains premier antiquities auction house, Pax Romana, will take collectors on a virtual 5,000-year journey across time, from Ancient Mesopotamia to modern-day China. The expertly curated 337-lot selection allows all collectors, whether novice or advanced, to bid on authentic ancient art and cultural objects backed by trusted provenance and scholarship. All ancient items will convey with a professional Certificate of Authenticity signed by Pax Romanas owner/director, Dr Ivan Bonchev (PhD, University of Oxford). Featuring antiquities and works of art from China, India, the Holy Lands, Western and Southeast Asia, the auctions Ancient section includes a great variety of artifacts in terracotta, stucco, bronze and stone. Several rare and beautiful gilded Buddha statues are among the highlights. A large and finely cast ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, Italian painter Paolo Veronese died April 19, 1588. Paolo Caliari, known as Paolo Veronese (1528 - 1588), was an Italian Renaissance painter, based in Venice, known for large-format history paintings of religion and mythology, such as The Wedding at Cana (1563) and The Feast in the House of Levi (1573). Included with Titian, a generation older, and Tintoretto, a decade senior, Veronese is one of the Âgreat trio that dominated Venetian painting of the cinquecento and the Late Renaissance in the 16th century. In this image: Left: Paolo Veronese (1528 - 1588), St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter, 1566 - 67, oil on canvas, 65 1/2 à 81 1/2 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano; photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia. Right: Paolo Veronese (1528 - 1588), St. Jerome in the Wilderness, 1566 - 67 Oil on canvas, 91 à 57 1/4 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano; photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.
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