The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Sunday, August 6, 2023


 
'It's crazy': The scramble for ancient treasures after Ukraine's dam disaster

Items recovered from a dried-up reservoir where a treasure trove of artifacts was revealed after the Kakhovka dam exploded in June, sending trillions of gallons of water gushing downstream, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, July 4, 2023. The bonanza of artifacts has electrified Ukrainian archaeologists. (Finbarr O’Reilly/The New York Times)

by Jeffrey Gettleman and Finbarr O’Reilly


KHORTYTSIA ISLAND, UKRAINE.- One summer evening as the sun sank behind the Dnieper River, the mammoth waterway that bisects Ukraine, Anatolii Volkov walked along a river beach, head down. A Ukrainian archaeologist, Volkov looked as if he was just taking a stroll. But he was actually examining the mostly dried-up ground of a former reservoir that has revealed a treasure trove of artifacts after a catastrophic explosion at the Kakhovka dam sent 4.8 trillion gallons of water gushing downstream, emptying the reservoir and scraping away the sand and silt that had covered the objects for centuries. “Look at this,” he said. He bent down and picked up an object about 2 inches long. He rubbed his fingers over the grooves. “Pottery shard,” he said. “Bronze Age. Three thousand years old. At least.” Even before the war, Ukrainian archaeologists ... More



The Best Photos of the Day
Best Photos of the Day
Exhibition view "Ugo Rondinone. Sunrise. East". Photo: Städel Museum - Norbert Miguletz.





Opera star David Daniels pleads guilty to sexual assault   The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Verizon launch new AR app experience, replica   Bidders just don't want to stop in Hindman's Never Too Much Fine Art and Design Auction


Countertenor David Daniels, below, and his husband Scott Walters at the Harris County Courthouse in Houston, Aug 4, 2023. (Michael Stravato/The New York Times)

by Dianna Wray and Javier C. Hernández


NEW YORK, NY.- Opera star David Daniels, one of the world’s leading countertenors, pleaded guilty Friday in Houston to sexually assaulting a young singer who had attended one of his performances there in 2010. The plea deal was announced just as the trial of Daniels, 57, and his husband, Scott Walters, 40, was about to begin. Daniels pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault of an adult, a second-degree felony. He will face eight years of probation, a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender and an order that he refrain from contact with the singer he assaulted, Samuel Schultz. He avoided a more serious charge of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony, which carries harsher penalties. Walters, who was facing the same charges, ... More
 

Visitors to The Met can access the in-app map to guide them to artworks around the Museum.

NEW YORK, NY.- The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Verizon have launched a first-of-its-kind experience at the Museum, Replica, that allows visitors at The Met to scan artwork and bring elements of the works digitally into the global immersive platform Roblox through augmented reality (AR). Beginning August 2, users can download the Replica app, and starting August 3, visitors to The Met can access the in-app map to guide them to artworks around the Museum, learn about different works of art, and digitally collect unique pieces for free—like a Japanese suit of armor from early 14th–early 15th century or Vincent van Gogh’s straw hat from his iconic Self-Portrait of 1887—for their Roblox avatar. Each wearable piece in Replica was inspired by art from across The Met’s vast collection of 1.5 million objects; the 37 selected artworks are drawn from objects on view across more than 30 galleries spanning nine ... More
 

Stephen Rolfe Powell (American, 1951-2019), Mendacious Guppy Johnson (Teasers Series), 1994. Price Realized: $20,160.

CHICAGO.- Hindman’s Summer Jukebox themed auction once again proved that collectors don’t take the summer off as the fine art and modern design auction achieved $1.1 million, a new house record for the annual sale. This year’s auction was titled Never Too Much after Luther Vandross’s iconic debut single, which proved to be prophetic as several lots vaulted well past their estimates on the way to auction records. “It is very rewarding to see this fourth version of our Summer Jukebox series continue the upward trend of this sale,” shared Zack Wirsum, Hindman’s Vice President and Director of Post War & Contemporary Art. “I have the most fun getting in the collaboratory with our Design team and by chance curation, crossing the category diamond with the collector pearl. As the name of the sale and prices realized would indicate, this year’s chemistry experiment produced macro ... More


Laure Marest appointed Associate Curator of Ancient Coins at the Harvard Art Museums   Powerhouse reveals details for '1001 Remarkable Objects', exhibition led by Leo Schofield AM   Itumbaha monastery in Kathmandu has inaugurated the Itumbaha Museum, the first of its kind in Nepal


Laure Marest, Damarete Associate Curator of Ancient Coins. Photo: Mike Ritter.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.- Martha Tedeschi, the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums, announced the appointment of Laure Marest as the new Damarete Associate Curator of Ancient Coins—one of the few numismatic positions based at a U.S. university museum. Marest will lead the charge in rethinking the presentation of the museums’ sizable collection of ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and other coins, as well as related objects, and in proposing fresh perspectives for the field through programs and publishing. She will begin her new role at Harvard on September 18, 2023. Marest is currently the Cornelius and Emily Vermeule Associate Curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she was previously assistant curator from 2017 to 2022. While at the MFA, she co-curated The Marlborough Gem ... More
 

Guitar, handpainted, wood / nylon / plastic / metal / paper, made by Lorenzo, Japan, c. 1975, painted and used by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1980-2000. Powerhouse collection. Gift of Philip Thornton, 2018. Image Janine Thompson.

NEW SOUTH WALES.- “Our vision for 1001 Remarkable Objects was a seemingly simple one: to create an exhibition celebrating the sheer scale, breadth and relevance of the Powerhouse Collection. But how to choose? We rejected the nomenclature of ‘treasures’ or ‘masterpieces’ and instead determined all choices must be in some way ‘remarkable’ – whether by virtue of rarity, visual appeal, social history or an ability to invoke wonder. The result is a cornucopia of eras, styles, form, function, size and colour, to stoke memories that so many have of this iconic institution and signal the beginning of a new phase in its marvellous existence,” said Curatorium Chair Leo Schofield AM. Leo Schofield AM has a long association with Powerhouse, as a member of the Board of Trustees and a significant ... More
 

Courtyard view of Itumbaha, photo by Pranab Joshi. Courtesy of Itumbaha.

KATHMANDU.- On July 29, the Itumbaha monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, inaugurated the Itumbaha Museum, the first public galleries for the display of the monastery’s extensive historic collection. Itumbaha (also translated as Itum Bahal) is a vihara, or monastery for Newar Buddhists, and is one of the oldest, largest, and most important Buddhist monasteries in Nepal. Its galleries will house a display of 150 objects spanning over six centuries from the monastery’s collection. As the first dedicated display of art at any vihara (monastery) in the country, the new galleries at Itumbaha represent a significant development in the growing cultural heritage preservation and museum sector in Nepal. In February 2022, the Rubin Museum of Art, the Keshchandra Mahavihara Conservation Society, Itumbaha, and Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha, a museology and Buddhist collections lecturer at Lumbini Buddhist University, formed a partnership to research, cata ... More



Swann Galleries announces LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History at auction Aug 17   Julia Scully, influential photography editor and memoirist, dies at 94   UOVO and the Brooklyn Museum unveil fourth annual UOVO Prize mural by Suneil Sanzgiri


Hugh Steers, In the Paper, oil on canvas, 1989. Estimate $40,000 to $60,000.

NEW YORK, NY.- The Thursday, August 17 LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History auction at Swann Galleries is a testament to the growing interest in the newly defined area of collecting. In keeping with previous years, the material represents a broad and exciting swath of nineteenth and twentieth-century political, social, and sexual culture. Fine art leads the sale with Hugh Steers’ moving 1989 oil-on-canvas In the Paper, at $40,000 to $60,000. Also by Steers are two 1988 oil-on-paper works: Pink Skirt and Red Flower ($5,000-8,000, each). A selection of works by Keith Haring includes Silence = Death, color screenprint, 1989 ($30,000-40,000), and Figure with Cape, felt-tip pen and ink, 1989 ($20,000-30,000), as well as a run of posters related to the gay rights movement and the fight against AIDS. Original works of art by Tom of Finland and artists associated with or influenced by him feature throughout the auction. ... More
 

She oversaw Modern Photography for 20 years and wrote an acclaimed book about her rough-and-tumble childhood, some of it spent in an orphanage and in remote Alaska.

by Richard Sandomir


NEW YORK, NY.- Julia Scully, who after 20 years as editor of Modern Photography magazine wrote an acclaimed memoir about her Depression-era childhood, when her mother put her and her sister in an orphanage before moving the family into a roadhouse in a remote part of Alaska, died July 18 at her home in the New York City borough of Manhattan. She was 94. Her death was confirmed by Jana Martin, a daughter of Scully’s companion, Harold Martin, a photographer. Scully began working at photography magazines in the 1950s and was hired to be editor of Modern Photography in 1966. The magazine was as devoted to the technical side of photography as it was to its aesthetics. Scully focused on the latter, and under her tenure, the magazine was instrumental in the emerging ... More
 

Suneil Sanzgiri and exhibition curator Drew Sawyer. (Madison Voelkel/BFA).

NEW YORK, NY.- UOVO, the leading storage and services provider for art, fashion, wine and collectibles, unveiled the fourth annual UOVO Prize mural yesterday, August 3, 2023 in Brooklyn, NY. In partnership with the Brooklyn Museum, the event celebrated Suneil Sanzgiri, recipient of the UOVO Prize and creator of this year's mural. The 50-square-foot mural features a line from Kashmiri-American Agha Shahid Ali’s 1997 poem “Farewell." The words “YOUR HISTORY GETS IN THE WAY OF MY MEMORY” are re-positioned as a banner within a banner, floating in an endless ocean of doubt, pointing to how the concepts of history and memory continue to be entangled in struggles around the world. Sanzgiri was commissioned to create the public mural for the facade of UOVO's storage facility in Bushwick, Brooklyn as part of the UOVO Prize. In addition to the mural commission, Sanzgiri is awarded a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and a $25,000 cash gran ... More


Fall 2023 artworks and film programming installations for public art announced by High Line Art   Carlos Bunga shapes light with Immersive Exhibition at Sarasota Art Museum   Anna Netrebko sues Met Opera after losing work over support of Putin


Karon Davis, Curtain Call (in production). Photo courtesy of the artist.

NEW YORK, NY.- High Line Art, which organizes public art programming and installations displayed along the High Line, has announced its commissioned artworks and film programming for Fall 2023. High Line Art collaborates with an international array of artists—both emerging and established—to produce new artworks inspired by the unique setting of the park, presented on a rotating basis. German artist Cosima von Bonin’s playful fish sculptures open the season, to be followed by a monumental fern enclosed in a glass structure by Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga in September. In October, Los Angeles-based American artist Karon Davis installs a larger-than-life ballerina bronze, her first public artwork in New York City. Organized by Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, each sculptural installation will be on view ... More
 

Carlos Bunga. Installation view of Reassembling Spilt Light: An Immersive Installation by Carlos Bunga at Sarasota Art Museum, Florida, 2023. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Ryan Gamma.

SARASOTA, FLA..- Multimedia artist Carlos Bunga employs light as both a medium and a metaphor for hope and reflection in “Reassembling Spilt Light: An Immersive Installation by Carlos Bunga,” on view through Oct. 29 at Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design. The solo exhibition transforms the third-floor gallery with towering structures made of cardboard and other household materials that sculpt the natural light that floods the space. Photographs, drawings, videos and paintings accompany the site-specific work. Bunga is best known for using mass-produced materials such as cardboard, adhesive tape, commercial house paint and other common household items to create one-of-a-kind installations inspired by urban architecture. He constructed ... More
 

Anna Netrebko bows after performing Act I of La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Dec. 31, 2019. (Caitlin Ochs/The New York Times)

by Javier C. Hernández


NEW YORK, NY.- Star Russian soprano Anna Netrebko filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Metropolitan Opera, seeking at least $360,000 in compensation for work she lost when the company parted ways with her after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Netrebko was fired by the Met last year after refusing to denounce Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom she had publicly supported in the years before the invasion. In the complaint, she accuses the Met of discriminating against her because she is Russian; of issuing “defamatory” statements about her in the press; and of breaching contracts by not paying her for some lost work. The Met disputed her claims. “Ms. Netrebko’s lawsuit has no merit,” the company said in a statement. Netrebko has in recent ... More




Lee Kun-Yong's "Snail's Gallop" | Pace Live



More News

Leny Andrade, 'first lady of Brazilian jazz,' dies at 80
NEW YORK, NY.- Leny Andrade, a Brazilian singer who earned an international following with her soulful fusion of samba, bossa nova and American jazz and whom Tony Bennett once called the Ella Fitzgerald of Brazil, died July 24 in Rio de Janeiro. She was 80. Her death, in a hospital, from pneumonia, was confirmed in a statement by a Rio retirement home for artists where she was living. She had also been treated for Lewy body dementia. Often referred to as “the first lady of Brazilian jazz,” Andrade (pronounced ahn-DRAH-jay) rose from the clubs of Rio, where she performed as a teenager, to forge a six-decade career, recording more than 35 albums as a pioneer of what she came to call bossa-jazz. In 2007, Andrade won a Latin Grammy Award for “Ao Vivo,” a live album with celebrated Brazilian pianist César Camargo Mariano. ... More

Dancer stabbed to death was a shy boy turned proud, exuberant man
NEW YORK, NY.- Karen Pendergrass kept seeing the lanky boy walk by the lunchroom where she taught dance twice a week to eighth grade students in North Philadelphia. He would peer inside, then run away as soon as Pendergrass made eye contact. “You come peeking in my door one more time and you’re coming in my class,” Pendergrass told him. “From there, he never left.” For the next 15 years, O’Shae Sibley danced, working on the side as a delivery man, waiter and cleaner between auditions and performances in Philadelphia and New York, where he moved to further his career. At 28, he was preparing to audition for “The Lion King,” one of his favorite Broadway musicals. But on Saturday, Sibley and his friends made a quick stop at a gas station in Brooklyn, New York, as they came back from a beach day. They were blasting Beyoncé and dancing ... More

3 young Irish writers and their 'difficult second books'
LONDON.- In recent years, Irish novelists, particularly Irish women novelists, have published some of the most compelling English-language literary fiction. Not just Sally Rooney, whose three novels to date have sold millions of copies worldwide, but a whole host of women have written books that, taken together, suggest a new contemporary Irish literature that focuses on the precarity of modern working life, as well as intimacy and its failings. Naoise Dolan, 31, Megan Nolan, 33, and Nicole Flattery, 33, are three of the better-known members of this cohort. Dolan’s 2020 debut novel, “Exciting Times,” was the story of a love triangle set in Hong Kong; Nolan’s “Acts of Desperation” (2021) charted the life of a young woman in an abject relationship; and Flattery also published her debut, “Show Them a Good Time,” a collection of deadpan and appealingly peculiar ... More

Outpost Gallery to open exhibition 'Madam X' by David Risley
COPENHAGEN.- To coincide with the launch of Copenhagen Fashion Week, British artist David Risley's exhibition 'Madam X' of new paintings will open at OUTPOST GALLERY opening Monday, 7th August at 16:00 CEST. Inspired by paintings of women, from early Renaissance frescos of standing saints to Portrait of Madame X by American painter John Singer Sargent, Risley looks to modern-day muses as his subject matter. Popular Danish fashion influencers Sophia Roe, Marie Jedig, Pernille Rosenkilde and Naomi Anwer are iconised by Risley in watercolour paints on life-size silk canvases. Risley contacted each woman and produced images in collaboration with them towards the final paintings. They were compensated for their time. The paintings will be displayed within the gallery on Store Kongensgade: a commercial street in the city ... More

Delaware Art Museum debuts residency with Charles Edward Williams
WILMINGTON, DE.- The Delaware Art Museum has partnered with contemporary visual artist Charles Edward Williams and the Wilmington Alliance for an artist residency. Members of the community are invited to contribute directly to Williams’s artwork for the residency by visiting the Art-O-Mat, particularly during Community Hours on August 4, 7, and 8, 2023. Much like Williams’s own art practice, which he describes as, “excavating history, taking the past and bringing it into the present,” this new residency builds on the Delaware Art Museum’s previous partnership with the artist and established commitment to uplifting local community voices in the arts. Building on the Museum’s previous partnership with Williams, as well as the institution’s mission and vision, this new residency echoes his own artistic practice of “excavating history, taking the past and bringing it into the present.” “We are thrilled to wel ... More

Thanks to Carol Burnett and Dolly Parton, new life for a 1988 film
NEW YORK, NY.- When “Tokyo Pop” opened in April 1988, critics were upbeat, at least about its lead actress, Carrie Hamilton, a newcomer to movies who had appeared on TV’s “Fame.” Los Angeles Times critic Sheila Benson wrote that Hamilton stalked through the film “straight into our hearts.” In The New York Times, Walter Goodman praised the movie, about an aspiring American pop star in Japan, for its “rhythm and zing.” The opening titles were designed by the artist Keith Haring at the height of his fame. But by November 2019, when a print of “Tokyo Pop” played at the Japan Society in Manhattan, the film had fallen into obscurity. The theatrical distributor, Spectrafilm in Canada, was long defunct. Although VHS copies existed, the movie never made it to disc or streaming. Even its director, Fran Rubel Kuzui, hadn’t seen it — her ... More

The END Fund presents 'Reframing Neglect', Creative directed by Aïda Muluneh
NEW YORK/LONDON.- The END Fund, through the support of Reaching the Last Mile, is pleased to announce Reframing Neglect, a new photography series creative directed by contemporary artist and activist Aïda Muluneh, highlighting the need to end neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) globally. The collection will be showing in partnership with The Africa Center, Harlem, before traveling to Cromwell Place London. The full series includes 38 photos by photographers from seven African countries; through fine art and documentary photography, the artists highlight the weight of NTDs on individuals and communities, using art as a tool of shared human emotion while addressing the need to spread awareness of neglected diseases. The END Fund mobilizes resources for NTDs and focuses on delivering treatments to those in need by growing ... More

Poster Auctions International's $1.6M sale is led by rarities and one-of-a-kind works
NEW YORK, NY.- Poster Auctions International’s second sale of the year, on July 18, finished at $1,675,320. Rare Posters Auction XC demonstrated collectors’ passion for seldom seen works. On that hot and stormy July afternoon, bidding activity seemed to mirror the weather with a mix of humid languidness and downpours of enthusiasm. “In my 44 years of poster auctions, I am always intrigued by the ups and downs of poster trends,” Jack Rennert, president of PAI, said. “Recently, collectors’ interest in artists including Leonetto Cappiello and Alphonse Mucha has certainly surged, and buyers were once again eager to round out their collections with rare works by these top designers.” Rarities indeed reigned supreme at this auction, garnering several unexpectedly high sales. An anonymous ca. 1969 design featuring a mod Twiggy-esque muse—Pan Am ... More

The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair to take place at Hynes Convention Center October 27-29, 2023
BOSTON, MA.- The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair returns to the Hynes Convention Center in Downtown Boston, October 27-29, 2023. Celebrating its 45th year, this three-day event features fine and rare printed materials from around the globe, including illuminated manuscripts, modern first editions, children’s books, ephemera, photographs, maps and autographs, as well as antiquarian books on a vast array of topics. More than 100 rare book dealers from Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Serbia, the UK, and the US will exhibit an alluring treasure trove for seasoned bibliomaniacs and first-time attendees. Prices range from the millions to the eminently affordable. Each item on view, whether ... More

'Portrait of a Place: Stuart Davis' in Gloucester spotlights artist's enduring tie to Cape Ann
GLOUCESTER, MASS.- The Cape Ann Museum has opened of Portrait of a Place: Stuart Davis in Gloucester, an intimate exhibition of paintings and photographs that illustrate the city’s significant artistic influence on Davis. The exhibition, which is displayed in the center of the Fitz Henry Lane gallery, is being presented thanks to generous individual and institutional lenders, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford. Davis first visited Gloucester in the summer of 1915 at the invitation of fellow painter John Sloan. He wrote that the city “…was the place I had been looking for. It had the brilliant light of Provincetown, but with the important addition of topographical severity and the architectural beauties of the Gloucester schooner.” Sloan ... More

'In Our Time: Prints by R.B. Kitaj' on view at The Huntington
SAN MARINO, CA.- This exhibition of newly acquired screen prints by artist R.B. Kitaj (1932–2007), now on view at Huntington Art Gallery, depicts hyperrealistic replicas of well-loved book covers, exploring the intersection between literary and visual arts. The exhibition is drawn from Kitaj’s portfolio titled In Our Time: Covers for a Small Library After the Life for the Most Part (1969–70), comprising 50 works that were acquired by The Huntington in 2020.An exhibition of screen prints by artist R.B. Kitaj (1932–2007), the newly acquired works depict hyperrealistic replicas of well-loved book covers exploring the intersection between literary and visual arts. “In Our Time: Prints by R.B. Kitaj” explores the intersection between literary and visual arts, lays bare social and political issues that were important to the artist, and provides information about the art of screen printing. The exhibition will have two installat ... More


PhotoGalleries

Gabriele Münter

TARWUK

Awol Erizku

Leo Villareal


Flashback
On a day like today, American artist Andy Warhol was born
August 06, 1928. Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 - February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States of America dedicated to a single artist.

  
© 1996 - 2021
Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez