| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Sunday, December 17, 2023 |
| | The Met will return 16 ancient treasures tied to looting | |
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Standing Eight-Armed Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion Cambodia, Angkor period, late 12th century Stone. H. 77 1/2 in. (196.9 cm); W. 33 1/4 (84.5 cm); D. 20 in. (50.8 cm); Wt. (approx.) 2645.5 lb. (1200 kg) Gift of Jeffrey B. Soref, 2002 (2002.477) Deaccessioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art for return to the Kingdom of Cambodia, 2023. On view in Gallery 248.
by Graham Bowley and Tom Mashberg
NEW YORK, NY.- The Metropolitan Museum of Art said Friday that it had agreed to return 16 major Khmer era artworks to Cambodia and Thailand. The works are associated with Douglas A.J. Latchford, a Met donor and prolific dealer who was indicted as an illegal trafficker of ancient artifacts shortly before his death in 2020. In recent years, the Met has come under pressure from the Cambodian government, which said dozens of items in the museums collections had been taken from the country illicitly from the 1970s onward during Cambodias decades of civil war and violent turmoil. Among the artworks being handed back 14 to Cambodia and two to Thailand are important pieces that the museum has described as being among the finest surviving examples of sculptures from the Angkor period. Some of them are still on view at the Met, and will remain on view, the museum said, before their eventual return to the countries of origin. The museum said the wall text is being adjusted to note the ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day The new project presented as a world premiere by Arthemisia at Palazzo Albergati in Bologna "Fantastic Animals" is much more than an exhibition.It represents a new frontier of entertainment, in which animals, art, magic, fun and dreams come together.The museum is transformed into an immense open space, in which animals find their ideal habitat, welcoming everyone, adults and children, art experts and the curious. Photo: Gianfranco Fortuna per Arthemisia.
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| Is luxury's favorite e-tailer about to go bust? | | Gold Air Jordans worth more than $10,000 found in a donation bin | | Vera Molnar, pioneer of computer art, dies at 99 | 
A Browns boutique in London, Oct. 26, 2018. Farfetch bought the retailer in 2015. For years, Farfetch was a tech darling that powered much of online luxury shopping. Now it is teetering on the brink of collapse. (Lauren Fleishman/The New York Times)
by Elizabeth Paton
NEW YORK, NY.- For more than a decade, Farfetch has been a global retail powerhouse, selling billions of dollars worth of coats, shoes, handbags and other luxury goods. But in recent months, the online platform, which was valued at more than $20 billion at its peak in 2021, has been fighting for its survival. Its share price has collapsed, rumors have been swirling that its founder is trying to take the company private and reports suggest it will need a lifeline of at least $500 million by the end of the year to prevent it from toppling into bankruptcy. Farfetch has multiple big-name investors, including Alibaba, a Chinese tech giant; Artemis, a holding company of the billionaire Pinault family, which owns Kering; and Richemont, a Swiss luxury group. The companys shares lost about one-third of their value this week, at one point dropping to a record low of just 60 ... More | | 
James discovered the golden shoes in a bin full of other donations and gave them to the staff since they looked special.
by Victor Mather
NEW YORK, NY.- The sneakers tumbled down the donation chute just like the old shirts, pants and coats that regularly were donated to the Portland Rescue Mission. But these sneakers were different. They were a striking metallic gold with a Nike Swoosh. One heel was adorned with the logo for 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Spike Lees production company. Normally, clothes are given out very quickly, said Erin Holcomb, director of staff ministries at the Portland Rescue Mission, which provides services like food and shelter to homeless people and those struggling with addiction in Portland, Oregon. But staff members suspected these shoes were special and set them aside. The sneakers, Nike Air Jordan Retro 3s, turned out to be a specific variety called Spike Lee Oscars. Lee debuted the shoe in 2019, wearing them to the Oscars when he and his co-writers won the award for best adapted screenplay for the movie BlacKkKlansman. The sneakers were not released ... More | | 
Vera Molnar in her workshop. (Bertrand Hugues, courtesy of Galerie Berthet Aittouarès via The New York Times)
by Alex Williams
NEW YORK, NY.- Vera Molnar, a Hungarian-born artist who has been called the godmother of generative art for her pioneering digital work, which started with the hulking computers of the 1960s and evolved through the current age of NFTs, died on Dec. 7 in Paris. She was 99. Her death was announced on social media by the Pompidou Center in Paris, which is scheduled to present a major exhibition of her work in February. Molnar had lived in Paris since 1947. While her computer-aided paintings and drawings, which drew inspiration from geometric works by Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee, were eventually exhibited in major museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, her work was not always embraced early in her career. Vera Molnar is one of the very few artists who had the conviction and perseverance to make computer-based visual art at a time when it was not taken seriously as an art form, with critics d ... More |
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| David Smith's political and satirical series "Medals for Dishonor" acquired by Harvard Art Museums | | Stefano Boeri Architetti unveils the project for a new center for prayer | | Two paintings by Pietro Lorenzetti bought for €4,700,000 by a major American contemporary art collector | 
Installation view. Photo: Caitlin Cunningham.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.- The Harvard Art Museums today announced the gift of Medals for Dishonor, a critical early work by preeminent 20th-century sculptor David Smith (American, 19061965). The gift from the artists estate comprises 14 cast bronze narrative reliefs from a profoundly political and satirical series that addresses anti-war and anti-fascist themes. The 15th medal in the series has been placed on long-term loan by the estate. These works join a large group of sculptures, paintings, and works on paper by Smith in the Harvard Art Museums collections. Harvard is now the only institution with the ability to show the Medals for Dishonor as a unified group. This transformative gift allows the museums to continue to exhibit, study, and teach with these critical early works in the way that the artist himself envisioned, said Sarah Kianovsky, who recently retired as Curator of the Collection in the Division of Modern and Co ... More | | 
Ramagrama Stupa. Rendering: Stefano Boeri Architetti.
RAMAGRAMA.- Ramagrama, the municipality situated in Parasi district in western Nepal on the banks of the Jharahi River, just 50 kilometers east of Lumbini (the birthplace of Gautama Buddha), is home to Ramagrama Stupa, an archaeological site covered by a hill and by a centuries-old tree, under which rests a still intact portion of the relics of Buddha, one of the most important historical, cultural and religious sites for Buddhism. The Ramagrama Stupa, dated back to the earliest period of the Buddhist tradition, presents itself today as a green mound, crowned by a majestic Bodhi Tree which integrates four distinct plant species, reflecting the unity and harmony of Buddhism's core teachings. Several organizations and Buddhist communities have committed themselves to the preservation and sustainable enhancement of the Ramagrama Stupa, with the objective ... More | | 
Sold separately, they were bought after a long bidding battle by the same buyer, a major American collector of contemporary art who is also a regular client of Tajan.
PARIS.- Two paintings by Pietro Lorenzetti, an artist as rare as he was a major figure in the gold-ground painting of the Sienese School of the early 14th century, more than doubled their estimates to fetch 3,034,800* for Saint Sylvester and 1,657,600 for Saint Helena. Sold separately, they were bought after a long bidding battle by the same buyer, a major American collector of contemporary art who is also a regular client of Tajan. "We are delighted that these two paintings will be part of the collection of a Tajan client who is known for his taste in contemporary art, and who showed great interest from the moment the sale was announced. He showed great determination right up to the end in the face of market players," explained Thaddée Prate, Director of the Old Master Paintings department, who was delighted with the enthusiasm ... More |
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| Newly gathered research contributes to new understanding of "Group of Seven" sketches | | Phillips' Evening & Day Editions Auction to be led by works from the archive of Edition Schellmann | | Mauritshuis to examine and restore Paulus Potter's 'The Bull' in front of the public | 
Unknown, Sketch after Leaves in the Brook, n.d., oil on paperboard, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
VANCOUVER.- The Vancouver Art Gallery opened its doors to a fascinating and thought-provoking exhibition, J.E.H. MacDonald? A Tangled Garden. Opened on December 16, 2023, this exhibition unravels some of the mysteries surrounding ten previously unknown painted sketches attributed to J.E.H. MacDonald, a respected figure among Canadas renowned Group of Seven. The Group of Seven are among Canadas most acclaimed and historically celebrated Modern artists, known primarily for their role in building a narrative of Canadas national identity in the early 20th century. The journey began in 2015 when the Vancouver Art Gallery made headlines by announcing the gift of these ten elusive sketches. Attributed to J.E.H. MacDonald at the time, the excitement surrounding the discovery was palpable. However, experts in the wider arts community began to publicly raise questions about the authenticity of the works. ... More | | 
Nam June Paik, Born Again, 1991. Estimate: £15,000-20,000. Image courtesy of Phillips.
LONDON.- Phillips announced that the London Evening & Day Editions auction in January 2024 will be led by an exceptional group of works from the Archive of Edition Schellmann, sold to benefit the ars publicata project. Collaborating with some of the most significant artists of the 20th century, Jörg Schellmann has produced the most challenging and iconic editions through Schellmann Art. Founded by Jörg, Nanke and Pauline Schellmann, the ars publicata project is an online compendium of contemporary fine art editions, documenting the edition oeuvres of the worlds most significant contemporary artists. The Evening & Day Editions auction comprises 40 works from the Archive of Edition Schellmann, including very rare examples and unique colour variants ranging from £800 to £150,000. The auction preview opens in Phillips galleries at Berkeley Square from 11 January until the auction on 17 and 18 January. Anne Schneider-Wilson, Senior I ... More | | 
Abbie Vandivere (left) and Jolijn Schilder (right). Photo Frank van der Burg.
THE HAGUE.- From 29 March, museum visitors will be able to follow the examination and restoration of Potters The Bull live. This huge painting (the largest in the Mauritshuis collection!) was last restored 50 years ago. Since then, there have been significant advances in conservation, restoration and research techniques. Over the course of eighteen months, this project aims to learn more about Paulus Potters painting techniques and working methods.This restoration treatment will help to preserve The Bull for future generations. The examination and restoration are being funded by Dutch family-run company Lely, a bequest, an anonymous private donor and Stichting Retourschip. The painting will be taken off the wall and moved to another room, which will be set up as a studio for the examination and restoration. Almost daily, the public will be able to watch through a glass wall as the conservators work with scientific equipment. The ... More |
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| Lena Henke opens exhibition at Aspen Art Museum | | Christie's Luxury Week continues with: Magnificent Jewels total $38,135,080 | | Nicola Vassell snnounces representation of Elizabeth Schwaiger | 
Lena Henke, THEMOVE (Aspen), 2023, Patinated bronze, 106 x 66 x 1 in (269.2 x 167.6 x 2.5 cm).
ASPEN, CO.- A new exhibition by New Yorkbased artist Lena Henke (b. 1982) crowns the rooftop of the Aspen Art Museum. The central sculpture, a towering bronze outline of a woman, can be pushed and set in motion, circling like the hands of a clock or the searching needle of a compass. Its vibrant red hue stands in luminous contrast to the alpine backdrop. Lena Henke has long studied the relationship between figure and environment, initiating sculptural and psychological explorations of bodies as they relate to the built world. Previous works feature fantastical maps of cities, casts of body parts, and refuse from urban environments. Nature, too, finds its place in Henkes practice, which often alludes to landscape, horses, and equestrian culture. Within these explorations of place and personhood lies a negotiation of desire, dominance, and submission. Where does one fit? Who is in control? ... More | | 
A Superb Colored Diamond Ring - Fancy vivid blue cushion-cut internally flawless diamond of 3.49 carats. Price Realized $5,495,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.
NEW YORK, NY.- Luxury Week continued at Christies on Tuesday December 6th, with the Magnificent Jewels auction. The live sale took place at Christies Rockefeller Center in the heart of Manhattan with lively bidding on the phones and in the room and achieved a total of $38,135,080, with 90% of the 152 lots offered sold. The auction featured a dazzling array of rare diamonds, important colored stones, and signed jewels from notable collections. The sale was led by a fancy vivid blue cushion-cut internally flawless diamond ring of 3.49 carats which sold for $5,495,000. A fancy vivid yellowish orange VS2 clarity diamond ring of 5.16 carats, achieved $1,683,500. Rounding out the strong results for colored diamonds was a fancy greenish yellow VS2 clarity modified-cut diamond of 61.47 carats which realized $1,562,500. Outstanding ... More | | 
Elizabeth Schwaiger. Photo: Martyna Szczesna.
NEW YORK, NY.- Nicola Vassell announced exclusive representation of painter Elizabeth Schwaiger, and her first solo exhibition at the gallery. Opening on January 11, 2024, Now & Now & Now, will include a new series of paintings offering expeditions into unpeopled spaces, unrestrained nature, and uncanny interiors. Schwaiger renders ethereal domains with dissonant materials; she applies watercolor, acrylic, ink, and oil to canvas in chromatically harmonious, but thinly veiled layers that bleed, permeate, and blur into overgrown, evanescent sceneries. Shaped by her personal experiences with childbirth and scuba divingempirically disparate but sensorially analogousSchwaigers life and practice are subsumed by forces greater than herself. Elizabeth Schwaiger is a research-based artist living and working in Brooklyn. She received her BA from The University of North Texas and MFA from the Glasgow School of Art. In her decade-long ... More |
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2023 In Review: Digital Art | Sotheby's
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 The breakout stars of 2023NEW YORK, NY.- Gutsy and offbeat, with an abundance of heart. The stars who rose to the top in 2023 shared a similar mentality: do it their own way and go full tilt without sacrificing emotion or authenticity. Here are eight artists who shook up their scenes and resonated with fans. As the TV landscape continues to fracture, one new show emerged as a bona fide phenomenon: The Last of Us, HBOs stunningly heartfelt zombie apocalypse thriller. Given that its source material was a beloved, acclaimed 2013 video game that has sold over 20 million copies, the bar was extraordinarily high. The shows debut season delivered, in large part because of the synergy between the duo at its center: Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, two characters who find themselves on a cross-country quest, dodging reanimated corpses ... More  Artist vanessa german is the Gray Center's Inaugural Joyce Foundation FellowCHICAGO, IL.- The Gray Center for Arts & Inquiry announced a long-term collaboration with self-taught citizen artist vanessa german* in preparation for her first museum solo exhibition in Chicago at the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. Supported by the Gray Centers inaugural grant from the Joyce Foundation, this two-part residency and exhibition project will unfold at a critical point in the artists career and bring together the conceptual manifestation of her visual art practice with germans community activism. Across her multimedia sculptures, performances, and installations, german seeks to dismantle the perceived separation of people, places, and things. The artists inherently itinerant practice has grown through her commitment to conceiving and exhibiting work in ways that specifically engage with place. Following ... More  Using dance to tell the story of Mozambique's strugglesMAPUTO.- A soft voice broke into the dark auditorium, lit only by a projection of a globe bearing the outline of Africa on a screen. Who said empires dont exist anymore, the voice said, as dancers who were dressed in European colonial-era robes slowly emerged on stage, carrying what looked like crosses or swords. They banged on maps of Africa as if divvying up the continent to their liking. Over the course of the next hour, the performance, in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, grew into a frenetic dance of stomping and jabbing, the movements of warriors in battle, set to the beat of thundering drums. Youre such a liar that even if you lose, you can still win, declared a man standing still at the back of the stage, in what seemed a not-so-veiled reference to allegations that Mozambiques governing party had rigged recent ... More  'American Fiction' Director Cord Jefferson on Hollywood's new shuffleNEW YORK, NY.- Before he read Erasure, Percival Everetts satirical novel about Black representation in the publishing industry, Cord Jefferson had never really thought of himself as a movie director. He had hoped to direct for television his writing credits include several episodes of Master of None, The Good Place and HBOs Watchmen, for which he shared an Emmy in 2020 but even that seemed like a stretch. I thought they might let me direct something that I helped write or create, he said in a recent interview. And even then it would be like Episode 4 of 10, not the pilot or the finale. Things changed in December 2020, when Jefferson, 41, picked up Erasure and became enchanted. The book, published in 2001, is the story of Thelonius Ellison, known as Monk, a disillusioned Black intellectual whose mocking ... More  All together now: Dance takes over the Perelman Arts CenterNEW YORK, NY.- Inside the glamorous, gleaming marble cube that is the Perelman Arts Center, all the reconfigurable theater space is right now occupied by dance productions The March and Is It Thursday Yet? From a dance lovers perspective, its quite impressive that the Perelman would devote its new building to dance for a few weeks. Unfortunately, the productions themselves dont rise to the opportunity. For The March, one of the theaters has been arranged in-the-round, with three levels of steeply tiered seating surrounding a circular stage. The show is a three-parter. Three choreographers share the same distinguished, multigenerational cast of dancers (whom the program identifies as women and femme) for three works, each investigating the idea of unison, of moving together in time. In ... More  Mike Grgich dies at 100; His wine stunned the French by besting theirsNEW YORK, NY.- Mike Grgich, the winemaker at Chateau Montelena in Californias Napa Valley, and his staff were taken aback on May 25, 1976, after they received a surprising telegram. It read in part, STUNNING SUCCESS IN PARIS TASTING. What tasting? What success? Without their knowledge, Montelenas 1973 chardonnay had been entered in a blind tasting held in Paris the day before. The tasting pitted American wines against some of Frances most famous, hallowed bottles. Nine French judges, including some of the leading names in the French food and wine establishment, had selected the Montelena chardonnay as their top white. This result was indeed shocking. American wines back then were considered simple and rustic at best, and no match for the majestic French wines. While the French judges shrank in embarrassed ... More  Morgane Ely winner of the villa Noailles Prize of the Emerige Revelations 2023TOULON.- As part of the 2023 Emerige Revelations exhibition presented in Toulon, the jury, gathered by the villa Noailles, awarded the villa Noailles Prize for the 2023 Emerige Revelations to Morgane Ely as well as a special mention to Jules Bourbon. Morgane Ely will benefit from a residency within the territory of the Métropole Toulon Provence Méditerranée and more particularly at the villa Noailles. The fruit of this residency will be presented in a solo show by the artist at the Ancien Ãvêché de Toulon in December 2024, produced by the villa Noailles together with its local partners. Morgane Ely will take part in the competition as a jury member. Jules Bourbon is awarded by a residency in Marseille with the support of the villa Noailles and all the members of the jury. The Métropole Toulon Provence Méditerranée and the villa Noailles ... More  Desert X AlUla 2024 curators announcedALULA.- Open to all, Desert X AlUla is a recurring and temporary, site-responsive, international open-air art exhibition taking place in AlUla, a globally significant ancient desert region in the Arabian Peninsula. Desert X AlUla takes place as a highlight of the AlUla Arts Festival. Raneem Farsi and Neville Wakefield will return as this years artistic directors and the exhibition will be curated by Maya El Khalil and Marcello Dantas. El Khalil is a renowned art advisor and curator with a focus on the MENA region. Dantas is an award-winning curator known for innovative interdisciplinary practices linking science, history and technology to create engaging and participatory exhibition experiences. Following two exhibitions since 2020, Desert X AlUla returns for its third edition from 9 February 23 March 2024, placing visionary contemporary artworks ... More  36 hours in ViennaVIENNA.- Vienna, the Austrian capital, clings to tradition: Just smell the timeless fragrances of roasting chestnuts and spiced wine at the Christmas markets that spring up all around the city every December. For many visitors, the city is often a brief stop on a whirlwind tour of Central Europe, leaving little time to explore much beyond the historic center, called the First District. Still, there is plenty to see and do in its other districts, including some newly added cultural institutions. The Wien Museum, the premier place to learn about the citys history, reopened this month after a three-year renovation, while the House of Strauss, a museum and concert hall honoring the Strauss family of musicians, arrived in October. The Wien Museum, focused on the citys history, reopened Dec. 6 on Karlsplatz, a sweeping plaza with a Baroque church, with several ... More  Michel Ciment, eminent French film critic, is dead at 85NEW YORK, NY.- Michel Ciment, a French film critic whose passion for cinema helped define it as serious art for generations of French moviegoers, directors and producers, even while irking some of them with his unabashed love of American film, died Nov. 13 in Paris. He was 85. His death was confirmed by the film magazine Positif, for which he had long served as editor-in-chief, and by the Cannes Film Festival, which called him a free spirit with an insatiable curiosity and the embodiment of cinephilia. Ciment (pronounced SEE-mah) derived his authority from just that: his unbounded love of movies and an encyclopedic knowledge of film that sprang from it. He was an adept of the uniquely French cult of movies as high art, and of the great director as genius. But that was counterbalanced by an embrace of all types of cinema, ... More  Sara Flores joins White CubeLONDON.- White Cube announced representation of Sara Flores (b.1950), one of the foremost contemporary artists emerging from the Amazonian basin. The artists first solo exhibition in Europe will open at White Cube Paris on Wednesday 13 December 2023, and will be on view until 13 January 2024. Featuring Floress new and recent works, the exhibition is a collaboration with the Shipibo-Conibo Center in New York, a nonprofit organisation that works alongside Indigenous leadership in the Amazon toward Shipibo self-determination and territorial sovereignty in a sustainable future. Coinciding with the White Cube Paris exhibition, Floress works are featured in the group show Vision Chamaniques, currently on view at Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac in Paris. Born in 1950 in the native community of Tanbo Mayo within the Peruvian Amazon, Flores belongs to the S ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Gabriele Münter 
TARWUK 
Awol Erizku 
Leo Villareal
Flashback On a day like today, American painter and illustrator Paul Cadmus was born December 17, 1904. Paul Cadmus (December 17, 1904 - December 12, 1999) was an American artist. He is best known for his egg tempera paintings of gritty social interactions in urban settings. He also produced many highly finished drawings of single nude male figures. His paintings combine elements of eroticism and social critique in a style often called magic realism. In this image: The Fleet's In!, 1934 (cropped view).
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