| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Thursday, August 19, 2021 |
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| | Smithsonian acquires photos from first African American studios | |
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An undated ambrotype of a woman with a book, from the L. J. West Collection of Early American Photography. Daguerreotypes by James P. Ball, Glenalvin Goodridge and Augustus Washington are the centerpiece of a collection that could rewrite the early history of American photography. Smithsonian American Art Museum via The New York Times.
by Aruna DSouza
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Larry West was a mergers and acquisitions specialist when he happened upon an article in The New York Post in 1975 that said antique photographs were on the verge of becoming the next big collectible. Inspired, he walked into a shop in Mamaroneck, New York, and came across a daguerreotype an early form of photography, made on highly polished metal plates that is almost startling in its hologram-like effect. It depicted an African American man in a tuxedo, elegantly posed before the camera. West purchased it for $10.70. Including tax, he said with a laugh in a phone interview. The find kicked off Wests 45-year-long passion some might say obsession with daguerreotypes, as objects of beauty and as records of American history, including the active role that African Americans played as both makers and consumers of photography from its earliest invention. Now, an important segment of his collection, most of which has never been on public view, has been ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Life-sized warriors carved from stone, mythical human-animal figures, intricate gold jewellery, and a full-size 3D print of the sun stone: all this and more will be on display in Museum Volkenkundeâs Aztecs, the first exhibition about the Aztecs ever to be staged in the Netherlands. This year is the 500th year since the Aztec Empire fell to Spanish colonialists. This in fact made the Dutch and the Aztecs fellow countrymen, for at that time both served the Spanish king. Aztecs is an exhibition full of unique collection highlights that have never previously left Mexico, which dissects the myths surrounding this empire that was once believed to have been lost. Photo Itzia Villicana. CNME-INAH.
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| Hiro, fashion photographer who captured the surreal, dies at 90 | | Denmark now has two Little Mermaids. The famous one is suing. | | Tomb of Marcus Venerius Secundio discovered at Porta Sarno with mummified human remains | 
Foot Series #8 with Ant, New York, 1982, by Hiro. Hiro/Museum of Fine Arts, Boston via The New York Times.
by Robert D. McFadden
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Yasuhiro Wakabayashi, the Japanese American photographer known as Hiro, whose fashion and still-life images captured a relentlessly inventive vision of American life that critics likened to those of his idol and mentor, Richard Avedon, died on Sunday at his country home in Erwinna, Pennsylvania. He was 90. The death was confirmed by his son, Gregory Wakabayashi. A diamond-and-ruby Tiffany necklace draped on the hoof of a Black Angus steer. A pyramid of Cartier watches set in a luminous lunar landscape of vivid green and shocking blue. A mysterious woman in the dunes at twilight, floating like a ghost off the ground in a windblown black nightgown. It was the stuff of fashion advertising dreams: more brilliant and infinitely more beautiful than reality. If Hiros photos often seemed surreal, it was perhaps because his early life ... More | | 
A granite mermaid in Asaa, Denmark, on Aug. 12, 2021. Carsten Snejbjerg/The New York Times.
by Lisa Abend
ASAA (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- On a blustery day last week, Tina Pedersen and Jens Poulsen, two Danish vacationers, posed for pictures beside a statue of a mermaid. In some ways, the sculpture seemed familiar: Perched by a harbor, the mermaid rested the weight of her bare torso on one arm, and draped her piscine tail delicately over a rock. Yet Pedersen and Poulsen were not in Copenhagen; they were on their way to a beach vacation on the other side of Denmark. We heard on the radio that the estate of The Little Mermaid was demanding that this one be destroyed, said Pedersen. So we thought we better come see it while we still could. The mermaid that has watched over the harbor in the village of Asaa, in the north of Denmark, since 2016 is not an exact replica of the landmark in Denmarks capital. But for the heirs of Edvard Eriksen, the artist who sculpted the Copenhagen statue, the Asaa mermaid bears too close ... More | | 
Archaeologists in the ancient city of Pompeii have discovered a remarkably well-preserved skeleton during excavations that also shed light on the cultural life of the city before it was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in AD 79. Image courtesy: Alfio Giannotti/Pompeii Archeological Park.
POMPEII.- Mummified remains, along with the hair and bones of an individual buried in an ancient tomb have been found at the necropolis of Porta Sarno, to the east of the ancient urban centre of Pompeii. On a marble slab located on the pediment of the tomb, a commemorative inscription to the owner Marcus Venerius Secundio makes reference, extraordinarily, to performances at Pompeii that were conducted in Greek, direct evidence of which has never before been found. This is the latest discovery at Pompeii, which took place during an excavation campaign carried out in the Porta Sarno Necropolis area, on the initiative of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and the European University of Valencia. Pompeii never ceases to amaze, and has confirmed her place in a story of redemption, as an international role model, ... More |
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| This brain remained intact in a 310 million-year-old fossil | | Exhibition features a selection of new paintings and works on paper by Robert Nava | | Gladstone Gallery exhibits Bruce Nauman's Microphone/Tree Piece | 
The 310-million-years-old fossillzed remains of a horseshoe crab, about the size of a penny, that was unearthed from the Mazon Creek deposit in northeastern Illinois. Russell Bicknell via The New York Times.
by Priyanka Runwal
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Brain tissue is innately squishy. Unlike bones, shells or teeth, it is rich in fat and rots quickly, seldom making an appearance in the fossil record. So when Russell Bicknell, an invertebrate paleontologist at the University of New England in Australia, noticed a pop of white near the front of a fossilized horseshoe crab body where the animals brain would have been, he was surprised. A closer look revealed an exceptional imprint of the brain along with other bits of the creatures nervous system. Unearthed from the Mazon Creek deposit in northeastern Illinois, and dating back 310 million years, its the first fossilized horseshoe crab brain ever found. Bicknell and his colleagues reported the find ... More | | 
Robert Nava, Untitled, 2021. Acrylic, crayon, and grease pencil on paper, 30" à 22-1/4" (76.2 cm à 56.5 cm). © Robert Nava, courtesy Pace Gallery.
EAST HAMPTON, NY.- Pace is presenting an exhibition of works on paper by Robert Nava at its East Hampton space. The works on view in the exhibition, all of which were created in 2021, depict Navas quintessentially outlandish creatures. Marking the artists second show with Pace since he joined the gallery last year, this presentation runs from August 12 to 29. Navas fascination with drawing, which is now a pillar of his artistic practice, stems from the cartoon and cereal box characters he sketched as a child. Constantly drawing in his sketchbook, the artist is deeply engaged with the quickness and intuitive aspects of making works on paper. Nava uses his drawings to experiment and formulate ideas that often inform his paintings. In an interview with the writer, curator, and artist Paul Laster published in Art & Object earlier this year, Nava said: Drawing is a huge part of my work. Im really interested in what line can ... More | | 
Bruce Nauman, Microphone/Tree Piece, 1971. Microphone, foam rubber, plastic and cement or other waterproof sealant. Dimensions variable © Bruce Nauman / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels. Photo: Philip Poppek.
BRUSSELS.- Bruce Naumans Microphone/Tree Piece originally began life as Amplified Tree Piece, the artists written contribution to an exhibition of proposals called Art in the Mind in 1970. He subsequently added more details a year later, certifying it as Microphone/Tree Piece, yet the instructions essentially remained the same: drill a hole into a tree trunk, mic it up, and amplify the sound into an empty room. Naumans other submission to Art in the Mind, Untitled (1969) similarly involved making a hole in which to conceal a microphone, except this one would have been a mile-deep below the ground. During a rush of works in the late-1960s, the artist had poured water through holes in slabs of metal to make them rust (Water-Mirror Piece and Untitled, both 1968, and ... More |
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| Steidl announces U.S. release of 'William Eggleston: The Outlands' | | Bodleian Libraries reach the milestone of 1 millionth image online for public access | | Wichita Art Museum awarded $161,200 competitive grant to conserve 80 important artworks in the collection | 
William Eggleston: The Outlands. Edited by Mark Holborn. 652 pages, 405 images, 12.5 x 12.5 in. / 31.5 x 32 cm. Clothe-bound in a slipcase. US$ 450.00 / 380.00. ISBN 978-3-95829-265-9. All images © Eggleston Artistic Trust.
NEW YORK, NY.- The publication of William Eggleston's Chromes by Steidl in 2011 marked the beginning of the examination of the entire prolific output of this extraordinary artist in a range of books including Los Alamos Revisited (2012) and the ten-volume The Democratic Forest (2015). The three volumes of The Outlands are drawn from the same source, the photographs Eggleston made on color transparency film from 1969 to 1974 that formed the basis for the Chromes volumes and for John Szarkowskis seminal exhibition of Egglestons work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1976 with the accompanying book William Eggleston's Guide. However, with the exception of a couple of alternate versions, none of the photographs in The Outlands has been published previously. The result is revelatory. Starting at almost the exact point on the same street in suburban ... More | | 
The one millionth image to be digitized is from an original notebook of poet Jenny Joseph, who studied at St Hildas College and maintained a connection with Oxford all her life.
OXFORD.- The Bodleian Libraries has reached a significant milestone in its online digital library allowing over 1 million images from its collections to be seen and freely used anywhere in the world. Launched in 2015, the Digital Bodleian website is a free resource for everyone that covers everything from beautifully illuminated manuscripts from medieval Europe and centuries-old maps to Victorian board games and British political election posters from the last 100 years. Over the past six years it has grown and grown, offering a wide range of access to the Bodleians stunning collections. The one millionth image to be digitized is from an original notebook of poet Jenny Joseph, who studied at St Hildas College and maintained a connection with Oxford all her life. It shows the first draft of her poem, 'Warning', which was voted the nations favourite poem in a BBC poll in 2006. To commemorate ... More | | 
Winslow Homer, In the Mowing, 1874 (detail). Oil on canvas, 15 3/4 x 23 inches. Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas, U.S.A. Roland P. Murdock Collection.
WICHITA, KS.- The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has announced grant awards totaling more than $29 million for museums across the United States, including $161,200 for the Wichita Art Museum, one of only three Kansas museums to receive funding from the agencys largest competitive grant program, Museums for America. Grant money from Museums for America will be used to conserve 80 important artworks in WAMs collection. Partnering with the Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the museum will conserve a group of high-priority paintings by premier American artists that include Winslow Homer, Benny Andrews, George Bellows, Robert Henri and Walt Kuhn. Grant money also will be used to conserve artworks from WAMs American Folk Art collection, wide-ranging examples that include an eagle flagpole, 19th-century rocking horse, barber pole, and horse-and-rider weathervane ... More |
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| White Cube announces representation of Minoru Nomata | | Make room for the 2021 Designer Show House at the Western Design Conference | | Bicoastal exhibition pays tribute to The De Luxe Show, the landmark 1971 exhibition at the DeLUXE theater in Houston | 
Minoru Nomata, Square Drawing-7, 2011 (detail). Pencil on paper. Image size: 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. (15 x 15 cm) Paper size: 12 1/8 x 9 1/16 in. (30.8 x 23 cm) © the artist. Courtesy White Cube.
LONDON.- White Cube announced representation of Minoru Nomata. The artists first solo exhibition in Greater China at White Cube Hong Kong opens on 8 September 2021. Born in 1955, Nomata was raised in Tokyos industrial district of Meguro during a period of rapid urban and economic growth in Japan. Fascinated by the city's expanding metropolis, over the past four decades the artist has created a lexicon of imaginary buildings, structures and monoliths which celebrate the machine aesthetic and ingenuity of structural design throughout the ages. Often featuring a single monumental structure that dominates an imagined, ambient landscape, Nomatas paintings are characterised by a masterful use of light to give form to fantastical yet familiar subject matter. The artist has commented that, in some ways, his works are ... More | | 
Emily Janak Interiors x Fighting Bear Antiques.
JACKSON HOLE, WY.- The Western Design Conference Exhibit + Sale will welcome guests back to the in-person, four-day Jackson Hole event this September, celebrating the finest functional art inspired by the West and introducing six top interior designers including celebrity designer and author of new book Modern Americana, Max Humphrey all turning their hands to Western style for the highly-anticipated Designer Show House. Constructed in the middle of the 28,000-square-foot showroom, the eclectic and artful house features six life-size spaces exclusively designed for the WDC Exhibit + Sale. The 2021 Show House will be revealed at the Opening Preview Party + Fashion Show on Thursday, Sept. 9, at the Snow King Events Center in Jackson, Wyoming, and guests are free to tour the house at their leisure throughout the four-day event, which runs through September 12. As Executive Director Allison Merritt recently told Architects + Art ... More | | 
William T. Williams, Water Witch (Drawing After Sophia Jackson), 1970. Acrylic on paper, 39 à 30 inches; 99.1 à 76.2 cm. 41½ à 32¼ inches; 105.4 à 81.9 cm (framed).
NEW YORK, NY.- Karma and Parker Gallery are presenting a contemporary bicoastal tribute to The De Luxe Show, the landmark 1971 exhibition at the DeLUXE theater in Houston, in honor of its 50th anniversary. The show is on view at Karmas 188 East 2nd Street location in New York and Parker Gallerys Los Angeles space. The De Luxe Show was a milestone as one of the first racially integrated shows in the United States. The exhibition was curated by Peter Bradley with the backing of collector and philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil, and featured emerging and established abstract modern painters and sculptors of the time, including Darby Bannard, Peter Bradley, Anthony Caro, Dan Christensen, Ed Clark, Frank Davis, Sam Gilliam, Robert Gordon, Richard Hunt, Virginia Jaramillo, Daniel Johnson, Craig Kauffman, Alvin ... More |
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Jasper Conran The Collection | Christie's
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 Rebooting a part of tech history: Rare, hand-built Apple-1 will hit auction block in November MONROVIA, CA.- The year 2021 marks the 45th birthday for Apple. The worlds largest technology company is currently valued in the trillion-dollar range, and it all began with two Steves, one garage, and Apple Computer 1, more commonly referred to as Apple-1. The company was created in 1976 when electronic engineer Steve Wozniak (b. 1950) teamed up with marketing guru and industrial designer Steve Jobs (1955-2011). John Moran Auctioneers will give tech lovers the opportunity to own one of the few remaining Apple-1 Computers. This fascinating piece of technological history is in mint condition, featuring many period-correct and original parts, and is in working order. Morans flew in the foremost expert in his field to authenticate, inspect, and generate a full condition report for the Apple-1 so that buyers can bid with confidence. The Apple-1 ... More  Singers in the dark: Syria 'power cut video' goes viralDAMASCUS (AFP).- It's a typical Arabic song of forlorn love and heartache but it was power cuts that added low-lit romance to the music video of Syria's latest hit. In Damascus, the economic situation is worse now than at the height of the decade-old conflict that is still ravaging parts of Syria, and electricity has become a rare commodity. When singer Shadi Safadi and the band he co-founded, "Safar", brainstormed over a low-budget video, the only way not to be defeated by power outages was to embrace them. The result is filled with humour and relatable to most of the Syrian population, who spend long unventilated summer evenings in the dark. The video for the song "Ya Weel Weely", which topped five million views on YouTube within days of its release, was shot entirely in a small room lit by battery-powered devices. The all-male band stand donning ... More  Frederick Fisher and Partners designs new hilltop Ojai Valley School Upper CampusLOS ANGELES, CA.- Frederick Fisher and Partners announced the completion of three signature buildings at Ojai Valley School (OVS) Upper Campus, in Ojai, California. Designed and built to replace structures lost in the Thomas Fire four years prior in December 2017, the buildings are situated on a 195-acre site overlooking the Ojai Valley in Ventura County. The project embraces the scenic landscape while reflecting the kinds of resiliency practices necessary to responsibly inhabit the area. The OVS Upper Campus includes three new permanent structures totaling 37,000 square feetthe flexible Aramont Science and Technology Center, the Grace Hobson Smith House dormitory, and the Littlefield Student Commons dining and library complexopening ahead of the 2021-2022 school year. OVS showed great resilience in transforming ... More  Chucky Thompson, hitmaking producer, is dead at 53NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- My mind is always on Record, the producer Chucky Thompson once told an interviewer, explaining how he was able to bring such a wide range of musical influences to the hits he helped create for Mary J. Blige, the Notorious B.I.G., Nas and other stars. For any particular track, he might draw on the soul records his parents used to play, or his time as a conga player in Chuck Browns go-go band, or some other style in his mental archive, as he sought to realize the vision the performer was after, or perhaps take him or her in a whole different direction. Thompson helped forge the hip-hop and R&B sound of the 1990s while in his mid-20s. He showed his versatility with his work on Bliges second album, My Life, and the Notorious B.I.G.s debut, Ready to Die, both released in 1994. The next year he was ... More  Pink Siifu, a shape-shifting musician with one demand: Don't box me inNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In 2018, Livingston Matthews landed in New York for a series of gigs and was low on money after having to unexpectedly check a bag on his flight. So he hopped a subway turnstile, only to be detained by a police officer who wanted to put him in his place. He was just O.D. extra, bruh, Matthews said in a relaxed Southern drawl between bites of cinnamon-sprinkled oatmeal in a Brooklyn cafe recently, visiting from Baltimore. He was like, Youre dead meat, I can do anything I want with you. The incident led him to write Deadmeat, the fiercest track from his 2020 album, Negro, which scolded racism and police brutality through an aggressive mix of rap, punk and free jazz. The album arrived just as COVID-19 cases surged globally and a month before protests arose following the police killings of Breonna ... More  Black in ballet: Coming together after trying to 'blend into the corps'NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Last year, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the protests that followed, American ballet companies started talking a lot more about race. About the issues of diversity, equity and inclusion that organizations of all kinds were addressing, but also aesthetic assumptions, implicit biases and long-standing practices particular to ballet and its history. There were innumerable panel discussions, said Robert Garland, the resident choreographer of Dance Theater of Harlem. But I felt that for the younger Black dancers, it was a heavy burden to be responsible for all of that. Garland wanted to help them, and in the way that he knows best: by making a dance for them. That work, Stare Decisis (To Stand by Things Decided), has its debut on Wednesday as part of NYC Free, ... More  Stack's Bowers Galleries sells finest known 1804 silver dollar for record $7.68 millionCOSTA MESA, CA.- Stacks Bowers Galleries has sold the finest known 1804 silver dollar today for a record $7.68 million, in their official August 2021 Auction Rarities Night. The Sultan of Muscat-Childs-Pogue 1804 Class I silver dollar has been graded Proof-68 by PCGS,and is the single finest example of the King of American Coins. Its provenance began when it was delivered in 1835 as a diplomatic gift from the United States of America to Said bin Sultan Al-Said, the Sultan of Muscat and Oman. In its history, this 1804 dollar has resided in only four private numismatic collections, those of Charles A. Watters, Virgil M. Brand, the Childs family, and the Pogue family. Since its mysterious appearance in a London auction in 1917, this specimen has sold at auction only once, in 1999, when the Pogue family acquired it for the then world-record price of $4.14 million. ... More  'Prince Philip: A Celebration' display opens at the Palace of HolyroodhouseEDINBURGH.- A visit to Edinburghs royal palace includes a special display commemorating the remarkable life and legacy of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Britains longest-serving consort. Through more than 60 objects, Prince Philip: A Celebration charts significant events and achievements in The Duke of Edinburghs life, including his role as consort, his support for Her Majesty The Queen at home and abroad, and his wide-ranging patronages and associations. Many items have been chosen to highlight His Royal Highnesss close links with Scotland and Edinburgh. Prince Philips association with Scotland began at the age of 13, when he became a pupil at Gordonstoun school. The school placed a strong emphasis on physical activity, supporting the local community and helping students to achieve their full potential, ... More  Taymour Grahne Projects opens virtual summer group show curated by Othman LazraqLONDON.- Taymour Grahne Projects is presenting The Summer Group Show featuring 18 established and emerging North African-born artists, curated by Othman Lazraq. I responded to the invitation of London-based gallerist Taymour Grahne to curate an online group show by wanting to focus on and highlight North African-born artists that reflect the creative potential of an entire generation. Despite the fact that the Maghreb region has always been home to great artists, many talents have only experienced national or regional success. This online exhibition will hopefully gain some exposure for many of the wonderful artists selected to be part of this group show. Opportunities and gateways for our regions artists have long been rare, due to a non regulated art market. A lack of cultural institutions and the indifference of public authorities ... More  MW Editions publishes Mulholland: An artist's love affair with the legendary Los Angeles roadNEW YORK, NY.- American photographer Karen Halverson fell in love with Mulholland in 1988 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. There she saw David Hockneys exuberant painting, Mulholland Drive: The Road to the Studio. Halverson moved to Los Angeles a few years later, and soon discovered the real-life Mulholland, the iconic road that runs along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains, bisecting the city. She had long been engaged in photographing the landscape of the American West. But Mulholland offered up something unique, a dramatic physical landscape in the heart of a major metropolitan area. She drove the voluptuous curves of the road countless times over the course of two years. William Mulholland engineered a steady supply of water to naturally arid Los Angeles in 1913, thus enabling the development of the city we ... More  Historic embroideries back on display after epic 10 year restorationBIRMINGHAM.- A set of 350-year-old embroideries have finally gone back on display at Birminghams Aston Hall after 10 years of painstaking restoration. The embroidered bed hangings adorn the 17th century bed in the room where King Charles I stayed in 1642, thanks to the careful restoration by a team of conservators and volunteers at Birmingham Museums. The linen had rotted away so badly that the embroideries were in danger of being lost forever. So, in 2009 the conservation team at Birmingham Museums enrolled the help of heritage volunteers from The Arts Society in Arden, Solihull and Friends of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery to help with the lengthy but important restoration project. The aim of the restoration project was to stabilise the hangings to prevent further damage this involved conservation cleaning, couching loose ... More |
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French Impressionism from MFA 
Aston Hall
Flashback On a day like today, French painter Gustave Caillebotte was born August 19, 1848. Gustave Caillebotte (19 August 1848 - 21 February 1894) was a French painter, member and patron of the group of artists known as Impressionists, though he painted in a much more realistic manner than many other artists in the group. Caillebotte was noted for his early interest in photography as an art form. In this image: An employee looks at a painting 'Oarsmen' of 1877 of French Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) in the Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany, Thursday, June 26, 2008.
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