| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Sunday, December 20, 2020 |
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| | The artists who redesigned a war-shattered Europe | |
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Hannah Höch (German, 18891978). Untitled (Dada). c. 1922. Cut-and-pasted printed and colored paper on board. 9 3/4 à 13′′ (24.8 à 33 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Merrill C. Berman Collection.
by Jason Farago
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Hostile times dont automatically engender great art. Lets put to rest that chestnut, which resurfaced during and after the 2016 election and which, as the presidency of Donald Trump draws to a close, is looking pretty deflated. A crisis can inspire your vision, but just as easily it can wash you out. And rising to the challenges of an anxious age takes ambition, stamina and not a little bravery. Thats the conclusion of Engineer, Agitator, Constructor: The Artist Reinvented, a momentous new show that papers the walls of the Museum of Modern Art with posters, magazines, advertisements and brochures from an earlier age of upheaval. Exactly a century ago, a cross-section of artists from Moscow to Amsterdam opened their eyes in a continent reshaped by war and revolution. Rapid advances in media technology made their old academic training feel useless. They were living through a political and social earthquake. And when the earthquake hit, what did these ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day A cabin of the Orient Express passenger train is displayed during an exhibition at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore on December 12, 2020. Roslan RAHMAN / AFP
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| Sledge and sledge flag from Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition acquired for the nation | | Christie's offers The Collection of Mr. & Mrs. John H. Gutfreund 834 Fifth Avenue | | NGV Triennial: A gallery-wide exhibition of 100 artists and designers from more than 30 countries | 
Sledge from Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- The National Maritime Museum and the Scott Polar Research Institute have acquired the sledge and sledging flag that Dr Eric Marshall (1879-1963) used on the British Antarctic Expedition (BAE) of 1907-1909 one of the most important expeditions in British polar history. NHMF safeguards nationally important heritage at risk of loss, establishing a UK wide collection of outstanding heritage over the past 40 years. The sledge and sledging flag are the two most recent treasures supported by the Fund, with a grant of £204,700, to mark its 40th anniversary, and symbolise the remarkable achievements of these explorers. They join significant items from other polar explorations that have been saved for the nation including: Shackleton Expedition Manuscripts, 1914-16 and 1921-22: Alexander Hepburne Macklins records of two Antarctic expeditions, which detail his eye-witness account of Shackletons ... More | | 
Jan Massys (Antwerp C. 1509 - 1575), Mary Magdalene. Estimate: USD 120,000 - USD 180,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
NEW YORK, NY.- Christies announces The Collection of Mr. & Mrs. John H. Gutfreund 834 Fifth Avenue, an unparalleled collection of fine and decorative art, jewels and books to be offered across live and online sales in January 2021. John and Susan Gutfreunds spectacular apartment in the Rosario Candela designed building at 834 Fifth Avenue was a legendary New York interior, as memorable for the captivating way each room was mise en scène as for its superb works of art. Working initially in collaboration with the celebrated French designer Henri Samuel the apartment was transformed by Susan Gutfreund into a dazzling setting for entertaining. The resulting tour de force was a breathtaking enfilade of rooms including the now iconic Winter Garden salon where objects with prolific histories, incomparable provenances and refined and individual taste all intermingled. ... More | | 
Installation view of Jeff Koonss work Venus 2016-20 on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne. © the artist and Gagosian. Photo: Sean Fennessy.
MELBOURNE.- The NGV Triennial is a large-scale exhibition of international contemporary art, design and architecture that explores some of the most globally relevant and pressing issues of our time, including isolation, representation and speculation on the future. Featuring 86 projects by more than 100 artists, designers and collectives from more than 30 countries, the NGV Triennial opened at NGV International on Saturday 19 December 2020, presenting the first opportunity for audiences to visit the reopened gallery. Featuring works by Aïda Muluneh (Ethiopia) Alicja Kwade (Germany), Cerith Wyn Evans (Wales), Dhambit Mununggurr (Australia), Faye Toogood (England), Fred Wilson (USA), Hannah Brontë (Australia), Jeff Koons (USA), Joi. T Arcand (Canada), JR (France), Kengo Kuma (Japan), Liam Young ... More |
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| More mammals are hiding their secret glow | | Rock Hall of Fame reveals plan for expansion | | Culturally significant sculpture Death of Cleopatra saved from export | 
A stuffed frilled-neck lizard that fluoresces under a black light at the museum in Perth, Australia. First it was platypuses. Now we may be dealing with glowing Tasmanian devils, echidnas and wombats. Western Australia Museum via The New York Times.
by Cara Giaimo
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Were platypuses just the beginning? In October, researchers reported that the already perplexing animals fluoresce a psychedelic blue-green color under black light. The species joined a short list of mammals known to do this, including opossums and flying squirrels. Since the study came out, others have begun their own investigations, mostly in Australian mammals. Although results are preliminary, the findings suggest we may have to book a larger venue for the mammal rave. When he heard about the platypus discovery, Kenny Travouillon, curator of mammals at the Western Australian Museum, borrowed a black light lamp from the arachnology department. (They normally use the lamps to find ... More | | 
A rendering of the expansion plan, in which a triangular wedge will appear to slice into the base of the Rock Halls original building. Photo: Practice for Architecture and Urbanism.
by Zachary Small
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland on Friday released designs for a $100 million renovation and expansion, which would grow the museums footprint by a third with a dramatic addition to the original I.M. Pei building. The Rock Hall announced that the architecture firm PAU will lead the project, which will bring 50,000 square feet of programming space and a new band shell overlooking the shore of Lake Erie. The triangular addition will resemble a guitar pick slicing into the base of the original waterfront pyramid, which opened in 1995. Vishaan Chakrabarti, the architecture firms founder and creative director, will oversee the expansion with assistance from other design firms including Cooper Robertson, James Corner Field Operations ... More | | 
'Death of Cleopatra', carved by the artist Henri de Triqueti.
LONDON.- Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage has placed a temporary export bar on ivory sculpture titled Death of Cleopatra by a highly appreciated figure in 19th century art. Henri de Triqueti was a notable and influential artist of the era who sought patronage among the royal family. His standing and knowledge earned him the respect of Prince Albert, and his greatest works include the marbles produced for the Albert Memorial Chapel. The sculpture, valued at £150,000, was exquisitely carved, and is the best example of Triquetis investigation of the combination of ivory and bronze. It is at risk of being lost abroad unless a UK buyer can be found. Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage said: Henri de Triqueti is an artist of national significance - his Royal connections and influence on sculptors in Britain mean it would be a great shame to lose this exquisite sculpture abroad. Whilst UK museums and galleries are currently facing many challenges, I hope one ... More |
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| They died in the French and Indian War. Their remains await reburial. | | UC Santa Barbara Library's Special Collections becomes the new home of the American Radio Archives | | Russia to return icon to Bosnia after Ukraine complaint | 
A structure at Fort William Henry in Lake George, N.Y., Dec. 16, 2020. Lauren Lancaster/The New York Times.
by Zachary Small
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- At points over the past decade, disinterred human remains full skeletons and fragmentary bones of British soldiers and Colonial militia who died during the French and Indian War have been a cause of some concern in the environs of Lake George, New York. They were unearthed on the shores of the lake, most of them nearly 70 years ago during the reconstruction of Fort William Henry, whose fiery demise in 1757 became the backdrop for James Fenimore Coopers novel The Last of the Mohicans. Under siege by forces led by Gen. Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, the British surrendered to the French only to be set upon and, in many cases, killed by Frances Native American allies. But some of the remains have never been reburied. Displayed for decades as part of the forts appeal to history and tourism most of the bones ... More | | 
An undated studio photograph of Rudy Valleé. Taken by Ray Lee Jackson, circa 1930s. Image rights: Byron Clarke.
SANTA BARBARA, CA.- The American Radio Archives, one of the worlds largest and most valuable collections of radio broadcasting will soon become part of the UC Santa Barbara Librarys Department of Special Collections. Established by the Thousand Oaks Library Foundation (TOLF) in 1984, the archive is one of the first in the state and includes original recordings of Winston Churchill, as well as broadcast photographs, radio and television scripts, books and film dated as early as 1922. It is critical that such a wonderfully curated collection documenting the golden age of radio is preserved and accessible, said Thousand Oaks Mayor Claudia Bill-de la Peña. UCSB has one of the largest collections of performing arts records, sound recordings and broadcast recordings on the West Coast as well as a state-of-the-art audio laboratory, making it our first choice and a natural fit for the American Radio Archives. The ... More | | 
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov (L) shakes hands with chairman of Bosnian tripartite presidency, Milorad Dodik (R), in Sarajevo, on December 15, 2020. ELVIS BARUKCIC / AFP.
MOSCOW (AFP).- Moscow said on Saturday it would return to Bosnia a centuries-old Ukrainian icon after Ukraine complained about it being presented as a gift to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. A representative of the Russian foreign ministry told AFP that the gilded Christian Orthodox icon -- believed to be 300 years old -- "will be returned" to Bosnia so that its provenance can be established with the help of Interpol. According to reports, Bosnia's Serb president Milorad Dodik presented it to Russia's top diplomat Lavrov during a recent visit. But the move riled Kiev, and the Ukrainian embassy in Bosnia sent a note demanding an "urgent explanation regarding the possession of their cultural heritage," the government in Bosnia said. The artwork originates from Lugansk, a region in eastern Ukraine held by Russia-backed separatists. Ukraine has been fighting Russian-speaking ... More |
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| Oklahoma City Museum of Art refreshes permanent collection exhibitions | | Blum & Poe announces its participation in Galleries Curate: RHE | | SOUTH SOUTH: A new platform and live selling event conceived by galleries | 
John Singleton Copley (American, 17381815) "Anne Boutineau Robinson," 1769, Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Museum purchase in memory of James C. Meade with funds from the Carolyn A. Hill Collections Endowment, the Beaux Arts Society Fund for Acquisitions, the James C. and Virginia W. Meade Collections Endowment, and the Pauline Morrison Ledbetter Collections Endowment, 2020.044.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK.- Visitors to OKCMOA can experience the reinstalled Portraiture gallery as well as a new History, Narrative, and Genre gallery on the second floor; part of a refresh of the Museum's permanent collection exhibition, "From the Golden Age to the Moving Image." The Museums newest acquisition, Anne Boutineau Robinson by John Singleton Copley (1769), acquired in November in memory of Lifetime Museum Trustee James C. Meade, will highlight the reinstalled Portraiture gallery. Additionally, a largescale biblical painting by Luca Giordano will anchor the new History, Narrative, and Genre gallery. The Museum ... More | | 
Galleries Curate: RHE is the first chapter of this collaboration, an exhibition and website themed around a universal and, they hope, unifying subject: water.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- In the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic, an informal group of contemporary galleries from around the world came together to discuss how to navigate through the new challenges of the global crisis as it affected artists, staff and businesses. The relationships among them over weeks of exchange became close and essential and they discovered that while the pandemic had broken many things apart, it had also brought them together. A supportive sense of community ignited positivity and cooperative interactions, and the initial group of twelve grew to twenty-one. As an expression of this unity they initiated Galleries Curate, a collaborative exhibition designed to express the dynamic dialogue between our individual programs. Galleries Curate: RHE is the first chapter of this collaboration, an exhibition and website themed around a universal and, they ... More | | 
Jose Kuri. Photo: Pia Riverola.
LONDON.- SOUTH SOUTH is an online community, an anthology and a resource for artists, galleries, curators and collectors invested in the Global South. The platforms launch brings together over 40 galleries from across five continents to present a more holistic world-view of contemporary art. The platform will create a repository and a space for new, shared value systems centred on community, collaboration and exchange. SOUTH SOUTH will offer a central portal to experience the programmes and artist profiles of galleries within and dedicated to the Global South. It will host year-round events and seeks, during these tumultuous times, to address an imbalance in the art world framework by providing a means to explore alternative art centres within a broader geopolitical context. SOUTH SOUTH will create space to magnify urgent conversations globally, foregrounded in these past turbulent months including; the persisting need for decolonisation, restitution and connected sociopolitical c ... More |
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Making The Met: The Formative Years | Insider Insights
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 Von Bartha opens 'John Wood & Paul Harrison: Words Made of Atoms'S-CHANF.- Von Bartha is presenting Words Made of Atoms, a solo exhibition by British artist duo John Wood & Paul Harrison in the gallerys S-chanf space, 19 December 2020 27 February 2021. The exhibition is an exploration of language and its manifold interpretations, including over 40 new and recent text-based works across the media of video, painting, drawing, audio, print and installation. Running concurrently with the gallery show, a series of external artworks by the artists will be installed in the nearby village of Zuoz. Playing with words and their meaning, the exhibition will feature a series of recent drawings and new paintings of words, about words, such as This Is A Painting In A Room (2020). The show features Demo Tape (2020), a new video work in which two men perform a strange demonstration using a series of placards; a silent film ... More  The Ailey Company meets the challenge of this lost seasonNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The centrality of Revelations in the repertory of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is like nothing else in dance. Ballet companies may perform The Nutcracker every winter; the Ailey troupe performs Revelations on nearly every program, the whole year through. Its the blueprint for most other works the company dances and the standard against which theyre all judged. Its the perennial billboard for the companys brand and its bible, too. This year is the 60th anniversary of Revelations. But its also 2020. For the first time, the companys winter season, usually a month of shows at New York City Center, is online and free. And alongside the difficulties of that adaptation lies the need to reassert the relevance of Revelations and the company today at the end of a year of pandemic, protests and all sorts ... More  Ronchini now represents the Estate of Paul JenkinsLONDON.- Ronchini is proud to announced they now represent the Estate of Abstract Expressionist painter Paul Jenkins (1923-2012). A key figure in the New York School, known for his method of pouring paint and the luminous colour of his abstractions. Jenkins was a contemporary of Pollock, Rothko, and Motherwell, and joins the gallery's existing stable of emerging and established international artists. Permanent museum collections include: In New York: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum; the Fogg Museum at Harvard University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Art; in Washington, D.C.: the National Gallery, the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the Iris & B. Cantor ... More  Their publishing imprint closed. Now they're bringing it back.NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Last year, after Penguin Random House shut down the literary imprint Spiegel & Grau, the veteran editors Cindy Spiegel and Julie Grau pondered what to do next. Splitting up was never something they considered. Spiegel and Grau have worked together for the past 25 years, first as founding editors and publishers of Riverhead Books, where they helped launch the careers of writers like Khaled Hosseini, James McBride and Gary Shteyngart, and later, at their eponymous imprint, where they published pivotal works by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Barbara Demick and Yuval Noah Harari. Other publishers were eager to recruit them. Instead, they decided to revive Spiegel & Grau on their own. This week, Spiegel and Grau announced that they are back in business this time, as an independent publishing house with ... More  Machu Picchu to reopen after train protestsLIMA (AFP).- The mountainous Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru will re-open to tourists on Saturday after an agreement was reached to halt protests by locals over train services, officials said. The protests had forced the site to close on Monday, just six weeks after it reopened following an almost eight-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. Residents of the towns of Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo have been demanding cheaper fares and more frequent trains on the route between Cusco and Machu Picchu. The train is the only means of transport for tourists, but it is also widely used by locals. Protesters occupied the tracks, which sparked clashes with the police and threats to occupy the tourist site. Authorities in the Cusco region said in a statement on Friday that "social order has been reestablished." Activists said no long-term deal had been agreed, but tha ... More  Despite Covid, Brooklyn neighborhood still a flashy Christmas villageNEW YORK (AFP).- In a New York where traditional holiday performances are cancelled, Rockefeller Center tree viewings are timed and travel is ill-advised, it's beginning to feel a lot like the Covid Grinch stole Christmas. But in Brooklyn's illuminated Dyker Heights neighborhood, not even a pandemic can keep the festive spirit down. The quasi-suburban residential district features large single-family homes that in late November start shimmering with elaborate holiday displays. This year tourism is reined in as are bus tours to the southwestern Brooklyn neighborhood that proudly displays its Italian-American heritage. But its in-your-face Christmas glow is still drawing large crowds, albeit with most in masks. "I'm in awe," said Eric Steiner, who journeyed from Manhattan with his husband to see the displays for the first time. "It's such a festive spirit at a time when ... More  M 2 3 opens eddy: An exhibition of works by five artists NEW YORK, NY.- M 2 3 is presenting eddy - an exhibition of recent work by Clare Koury, Daniel Klaas Beckwith, Quay Quinn Wolf, Tenant of Culture, Vladislav Markov. eddy will be on view through 24 January 2021. An eddy is a spiral, a small vortex, which spins counter to and disrupts the current. Against the great tides of the ocean, or the modest flow of a stream, eddies catch and confuse, addle and amaze. To Bertolt Brecht floating inverts our relationship to the real: we transcend gravity, we fall into the sky. Here we see works which similarly push against the currents of our material world, and in doing so call on us to suspend disbelief: in repurposing and recontextualizing media and materials from industrial, domestic, and nonhuman spaces the five artists represented here articulate the fragmented, yet poetic, nature of the present moment. To ... More  U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum selected as winner in 2020 Shorty Social Good AwardsWASHINGTON, DC.- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has won the 2020 Shorty Social Good Award for Best Cultural Institution for its innovative Stay Connected campaign, which has engaged millions of viewers online through a Facebook Live program series that examines Holocaust history and its lessons for today. Amid a global pandemic that forced the Museums temporary closure, the expanded digital offerings have proved to be an important resource for audiences seeking inspiration and educational outlets now more than ever. The Shorty Social Good Awards were created to raise global awareness around the positive impact brands, agencies and nonprofits can have on society. The Fifth Annual Shorty Social Good Awards winners were announced in Adweek and were celebrated at a digital awards ceremony on Nov 19th. Holocaust survivor ... More  ADA presents 'Eva Hide: Kammerspiel'ROME.- Eva Hides apologue works reveal themselves as plastic still frames. Frozen instants extracted from a long movie, as well as from a perturbing and disturbing favolaccia (lit. bad fairy tale) that dares to tell a story, echoing David Lynchs dreamlike abysses i.e. recalling the deformed child in Erasehead, or Joseph Merricks hurtful, separated, and discriminated world in The Elephant Man. And yet other references draw from Goyas maniera oscura (obscure manner(s)) more dysfunctional and horrific than the Quadritos - and from the Expressionist practises in cinema which Eva Hide draws from as a form of natural disposition [
]. Their objective depiction of reality makes room to a more perceptive dimension, which is then transfigured by corruption and degradation, as this is what human nature inflicts to itself. In that special unity of place originating ... More  Walter Storms Gallery opens Claudia Bitran's first solo exhibition in EuropeMUNICH.- In her first solo exhibition in Europe, the up-and-coming New York multimedia artist Claudia Bitran is presenting her newest series of works at Walter Storms Gallery under the title "Be Drunk", based on the poem by Charles Baudelaire. Her two-part works each consist of a painting and a video clip, which build a bridge between social media posts, classical painting and new media. Claudia Bitran has a very special working mode because she paints and photographs in equal measure. She starts with a painted scenario on canvas, photographs this finished state and paints over it in the next step. She does this several times alternately until the painting is completed. The individual photos, strung together like in a comic strip, become a moving video clip and accompany the painting like a documentation of the many motifs that are now ... More  Sharjah Art Foundation announces winners of the Focal Point 2020 Publishing GrantSHARJAH.- Sharjah Art Foundation today announced the recipients of the second Focal Point Publishing Grant, an annual fund supporting artistic and research-driven publishing practices that advance scholarly examination of art history in the region and the wider world. Grant recipients Ali Essafi, Ridha Moumni, Gabriella Nugent and hākārā were announced on the opening day of the third Focal Point Art Book Fair in the Foundations heritage venue Bait Obaid Al Shamsi. Selected from more than 100 submissions received after an international open call, the winners will share a total of 27,000 USD to support research projects in the Long-Form Essay and Publication Reprint categories. To be completed over the course of the next year, the projects will be published by Sharjah Art Foundation and presented at future editions of the Focal ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Anne Truitt Sound 
Islamic Metalwork 
Klaas Rommelaere 
Helen Muspratt
Flashback On a day like today, American sculptor and painter Beverly Pepper was born December 20, 1922. Beverly Pepper ( December 20, 1922 - February 5, 2020) was an American sculptor known for her monumental works, site specific and land art. She remained independent from any particular art movement. She was married to the writer Curtis Bill Pepper for 65 years and lived in Italy, primarily in Todi, since the 1950s. Her work Harmonious Triad, on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is currently on display as part of Landmarks, the public art program of The University of Texas at Austin. In this image: Beverly Pepper, "Ancient Silence", 2009. Carrara marble, 11 ½ x 18 x 5 in. 29.2 x 45.7 x 12.7 cm., stone base: 1 x 18 5/8 x 10 in. / 2.5 x 47.3 x 25.4 cm. Courtesy: Marlborough Gallery, New York. ©Beverly Pepper.
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