| The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Thursday, August 31, 2017 |
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| | Ancient whales were predators not gentle giants: Museums Victoria palaeontologists | |
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Alistair Evans, Erich Fitzgerald, Felix Marx and David Hocking with Janjucetus skull and 3D tooth model. Photo: Ben Healley - Museums Victoria.
SYDNEY (AFP).- Ancient whales had extremely sharp predator teeth similar to lions, Australian scientists said Wednesday in a discovery they believe debunks theories the mammals used their teeth to filter feed like today's gentle giants. There are two major groups of whales -- toothed creatures such as killer whales, and baleen, which filter plankton and small fish from the ocean for food with special bristle-like structures in their mouths. Using 3D scanners, Museums Victoria and Monash University palaeontologists made digital teeth models of fossil baleen whales and today's mammals from specimen collections around the world. They found that teeth in ancient baleen whales -- the ancestors of the Southern Right and Blue whale -- were different to the present-day and were instead much sharper. "These results are the first to show that ancient baleen whales had extremely sharp teeth with one function -- cutting the flesh of their prey," Museums Victoria's senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology Erich ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day This picture shows a member of the public taking a photo of the painting 'The Monarch of the Glen' by British artist Edwin Landseer, saved for the nation at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP
| Art UK's Art Detective celebrates over 100 discoveries the UK's public art collection | | U.S. pavilion commissioners and curators announced for 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale | | Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announces director and plans for new arts venue | 
Charles Brehmer Heald (18821974), Consultant Physician in Physical Medicine at the Royal Free Hospital, c.19201925, by unknown artist, photo credit: Royal Free Hospital.
LONDON.- Is this watercolour by J. M. W. Turner? Who is this lady in a black dress with a cameo on a red ribbon, and who painted her? Is this a portrait of Daphne du Maurier? These are just some of the hundreds of questions posed by members of the public, art experts, genealogists and others on Art UKs ground-breaking, free-to-use Art Detective website in the three years since its launch. Designed to help Britains art galleries and museums understand more about artworks within their collections, Art Detective has grown to become a much-loved, award-winning digital network for Old Master specialists and local history enthusiasts alike. Since being established in 2014, Art Detective has facilitated over 300 public discussions about oil paintings held in art collections and museums throughout Britain. These discussions ... More | | 
Mimi Zeiger, Niall Atkinson, and Ann Lui.
CHICAGO, IL.- The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and the University of Chicago jointly announced today their selection by the U.S. Department of State to serve as co-commissioners of the United States Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. As co-commissioners, the two institutions will organize Dimensions of Citizenship, the exhibition they proposed as the official United States contribution to the 16th International Architecture Exhibition, on view from May 26 through November 25, 2018.The curators of the exhibition are: Niall Atkinson, Associate Professor of Architectural History at the University of Chicago; Ann Lui, Assistant Professor at SAIC and co-founder of the architecture office Future Firm; and Mimi Zeiger, an independent critic, editor, curator, and educator based in Los Angeles. Particularly important in today's context, Dimensions of Citizenship will grapple with the meaning of citizenship as a cluster ... More | | 
Lieven Bertels. Photo: Julien Lampens.
BENTONVILLE, ARK.- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announces the appointment of Lieven Bertels as director of an innovative arts venue under development in downtown Bentonville. The venue, newly named the MomentaryTM is an adaptive reuse project that will transform a decommissioned Kraft Foods plant south of Crystal Bridges into a multi-disciplinary space for visual and performing arts and an artist-in-residency program. Bertels will join the Crystal Bridges leadership team in late September as director, after an international search guided by Arts Consulting Group. Bertels will be responsible for all activities related to the Momentary, including planning and development for the facility as well as artistic direction and day-to-day operations. Prior to joining the Momentary, Bertels was the CEO and cultural director of Leeuwarden-Fryslân 2018 European Capital of Culture, a year-long festival in the Netherlands focusing on the arts in a ... More |
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| Steamroller destroys unpublished Pratchett novels | | Security tightened at Spain's tomato throwing festival after attacks | | Hungarian film director Karoly Makk dies aged 91 | 
This file photo taken on October 05, 2010 shows British author Terry Pratchett, arriving to attend the third day of the Conservative party conference. BEN STANSALL / AFP.
LONDON (AFP).- A steamroller was used to destroy a hard drive containing unfinished works by late British comic fantasy author Terry Pratchett in accordance with his wishes. "One lousy steamroller, 10 unpublished novels and look at all the trouble I'm in!" Rob Wilkins, the writer's long-serving assistant, said on Twitter on Wednesday with a photo of him in front of the steamroller. Before destroying the hard drive, Wilkins tweeted that he was "about to fulfil my obligation to Terry". He used a six-and-a-half tonne vintage machine named "Lord Jericho" to roll over the hard drive at the Great Dorset Steam Fair last week, before a stone-crushing machine was used to finish it off. Pratchett, who sold more than 85 million books worldwide in 37 languages, died in 2015 aged 66 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. His Discworld novels about a flat world balanced on the back of four elephants standing on a giant turtle are some of the best-selling works in English fiction. ... More | | 
A reveller covered in tomato pulp takes part in the annual "Tomatina" festival in the eastern town of Bunol, on August 30, 2017. JAIME REINA / AFP.
BUÃOL (AFP).- Extra police were deployed at Spain's annual "Tomatina" tomato throwing festival in the eastern town of Bunol on Wednesday in the wake of the deadly twin vehicle attacks in Catalonia. A total of 740 security forces were on duty, including police officers, firefighters and ambulance workers, an increase of around five percent over the same time last year, according to Bunol city hall. In addition, police cars were parked at the entrance to the town's narrow streets, where half-naked revellers pelted each other with tomatoes during the hour-long festivities, to prevent unauthorised vehicles from entering. "The security apparatus was reinforced and adapted following the attacks" in Barcelona and the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils that killed 16 people, Juan Carlos Moragues, the central government's representative in the region of Valencia, told reporters. The iconic fiesta -- which celebrates its 72nd anniversary and is billed at "the world's biggest food fight" -- has become a major d ... More | | 
Six of his films were shown in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival, while in 1974 his work "Cat's Play" gained an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film.
BUDAPEST (AFP).- Cannes prize-winning director Karoly Makk died Wednesday at the age of 91, Hungary's Szechenyi Academy of Literature and Arts told the state news agency MTI. Widely regarded as one of Hungary's greatest post-World War II directors, Makk gained a reputation for fearlessly tackling themes of political and sexual repression during the country's four-decade communist period. Six of his films were shown in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival, while in 1974 his work "Cat's Play" gained an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film. Although none of these triumphed, Makk's poignant 1971 drama "Love" -- portraying life in the 1950s under Stalinist dictator Matyas Rakosi -- won the Jury Prize at Cannes. Shown again at the festival in 2016 as part of a Cannes Classics programme, the film has been called "one of the most moving commentaries on life under political tyranny that I have ever seen" by the ... More |
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| Turner Contemporary installs Jyll Bradley's 'Dutch/Light (for Agneta Block)' | | Russian Cosmism is focus of new exhibition at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin | | Exhibition brings together strategies for disappearance, dissolution and transformation | 
Jyll Bradley, Dutch/Light (for Agneta Block). Photo: Stephen White.
MARGATE.- Jyll Bradley invites the public to come and enjoy her installation Dutch / Light (for Agneta Block) , which is a contemplative space that celebrates cultural exchange and explores the idea of the glasshouse, the way it is activated by the sun and its capacity to cultivate new life and growth. The installation features five orange and green Plexiglas blades, under which people can walk and sit, while the sun shines though. Visitors are encouraged to read a book, write, take photos, perform, or just sit and watch the light play on the sea. Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and Turner Contemporary commissioned artist Jyll Bradley to make this new piece of work for summer 2017 to mark the 350th anniversary of the Dutch Raid on the River Medway. The raid is little known in British history. It occurred in June 1667 and resulted in a Dutch Fleet coming up the River Medway, capturing the flagship of the Royal Navy, the ... More | | 
Anton Vidokle, film still from 'Immortality and Resurrection for All', 2017. Courtesy: the artist.
BERLIN.- Russian Cosmism was a movement that called for material immortality and resurrection, as well as travel to outer space. It developed out of the spirituality of nineteenth-century Russia and a strong fascination with science and technology. The doctrine of immortal life in infinite space captured the optimism of both science and the arts at the time. Since then, the utopian, science fiction-like thinking of the cosmists had a great influence on art, science, and politics in both pre-revolutionary and Soviet Russia. Looking at it today, Russian Cosmism, although suppressed by official Soviet ideology, opens up new perspectives on the Russian avant-garde as well as the ideology and politics of Russia to the present day. For example, in his influential writings, Nikolai Fedorov (1829‒1903) demanded that the ultimate goal of technology must be to overcome death; all people who had ever lived on ... More | | 
Pamela Rosenkranz: Aquamarine (Clear My Mind), 2014. PET Bottles, Pigments, Silicone, Pedestals, Plexiglass Hoods. Photo: Flavio Karrer.
MAINZ.- Disappearance is a term which has possibly never been more apposite. In an era when disseminated images and information are updated every second, it signifies a conscious exit from the hectic pace of life, in other words: peace and quiet. But just as much as it is something people desire, it is also one of their greatest fearswho isnt aware of the anxiety of not being seen, of being consigned to oblivion or becoming forgetful oneself? Unlike physically disappearing, the idea of making yourself invisible at a purely visual level has fired peoples imaginations: even in Greek mythology, Hades, the god of the underworld, donned his Cap of Invisibility to remain hidden from view. In the Song of the Nibelungs, Siegfried wrests a cloak from the dwarf Alberich which renders him invisible. There are many more examples of this phenomenon, but they all share one thing: they illustrate ... More |
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| 'Lives Between' opens at the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv | | A powerful and masterly landscape of Switzerland to be offered at Sotheby's | | New Curators at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico | 
Clarissa Tossin, When Two Places Look Alike, digital chromogenic prints. Courtesy of the artist.
TEL AVIV.- The Center for Contemporary Art presents Lives Between, a group show opening on August 31st. Featuring work by thirteen artists, the exhibition is curated by Sergio Edelsztein and Joseph del Pesco in collaboration with Kadist, San Francisco. An earlier version of this show was exhibited at Kadist, San Francisco in March 2017. Lives Between takes as a starting point the growing number of international artists who live and work between two places. These are artists who were born in one country and, for a variety of reasons, have crossed oceans and borders to live in another. Because of this transition, their artistic practice and cultural identity is caught in a tension between their country of residence and country of origin. Some of the artists in the show migrated with their families as children, or were born elsewhere, ... More | | 
Sir John Lavery, The Summit of the Jungfrau, 1912 (detail). Est. £150,000-250,000. Courtesy Sothebys.
LONDON.- As part of the sale of an exceptional collection of art, to be presented at auction during the autumn season, Sothebys will offer a powerful and masterly landscape of Switzerland: The Summit of the Jungfrau, 1912 by the celebrated Irish painter Sir John Lavery (1856 - 1941). The paintings lyrical curves lead the eye up to the pinnacle whilst maintaining a sense of composure and innate design which hints at the influence of Japanese art. The British love of the Alps dates back to the early 19th century, to Turner, Byron, Shelley and Ruskin; it was actually on the recommendation of Winston Churchills niece, Lady Gwendoline, that Lavery travelled to the Alpine village of Wengen for a two-month stay. The highlight of the visit was a journey up to Jungfraujoch station, an enormous engineering feat that had fortuitously opened in August 1912 after eighteen years and ... More | | 
Josef DÃaz, New Chief Curator and Associate Director.
SANTA FE, NM.- David Setford, director of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society and the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts in Santa Fe, announced today that Josef DÃaz will take the reins from retiring chief curator Robin Farwell Gavin, DÃazs longtime mentor. As chief curator and associate director, DÃaz will assist with fundraising and community engagement efforts and work closely with Setford in planning future developments at the museum. He will also oversee its renowned Spanish Colonial art collection, develop exhibitions, and continue the museums commitment to acquiring works with a broad, Pan-American focus. David Setford said: I speak for the whole staff and board, as well as for Robin Gavin our retiring chief curator, when I say that we just couldnt be happier that Josef is re-joining our team. He was associate curator here until 2007, so he knows the collections and will fit right in. Like his mentor and prede ... More |
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The Audrey Hepburn her family knew
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 Times Square Arts Presents Word on the Street, a public art protest initiative created by female artistsNEW YORK, NY.- In partnership with House of Trees, Times Square Arts presents Word on the Street, a public art commission of political and poetic banners created by female artists and writers that speak directly to the urgent, timeless concerns of the individual, the community, and the requirements of citizenry. The exhibition will appear on street pole banners and Bigbelly solar-powered trash and recycling receptacles in Times Square from August 29, 2017 February 2018. Word on the Street is an ongoing text-based public art initiative produced by artist collective House of Trees, consisting of original banners and signage designed by renowned female international artists in collaboration with female refugee fabricators based in Texas. Artists and writers include Anne Carson + Amy Khoshbin, Carrie Mae Weems, and Wangechi Mutu. The ongoing series will continue ... More Kate Halsall's first exhibition at New Art Projects opens in LondonLONDON.- During the last year, painter Kate Halsall has embarked on a very specific project, to capture her subjects while sleeping. Artists have always had a fascination for the recumbent form of a sleeping figure, and the idea that something beyond our ordinary conscious self is revealed during the time we are asleep. In this series of twelve new oil paintings Halsall has gathered images of people who have found themselves asleep for a number of different reasons. Two children are tucked into bed, one assumes by their parents, a woman dozes on her sofa, a young tattooed man makes a mess of his blankets in the throws of a dream, and a man, caught napping during a party is curled up on the grass as if overwhelmed by sleep at the spur of the moment. Images of sleepers are about intimacy. But the intimacy we witness in these works is illicit, the moment ... More Mexico's 'pachucos' keep zoot suits, defiance aliveMEXICO CITY (AFP).- Decked out in baggy suits, their watch chains swinging to the mambo as feathers bop atop their wide-brimmed hats, Mexico's "pachucos" are keeping alive the tradition of the zoot suit -- and the defiance it represents. Born in Mexican immigrant communities in the United States in the 1930s, pachuco culture started out as the gangsta style of its time -- complete with criminal associations, baggy pants and bling. It was a time of deep prejudice in the American south and west, where restaurants often posted signs reading "No dogs, negroes or Mexicans." In a show of defiance of the dominant white culture, young Mexicans joined urban blacks in sporting the zoot suit -- long jackets, baggy pants tapering to a peg at the ankles, Oxford shoes, dangling watch fobs and splaying hats. It was "a proto-movement of social and cultural resistance," says Manuel ... More Australian number plate sells for nearly $2 millionSYDNEY (AFP).- A black-and-white number plate with the single digit "4" has sold at a Sydney auction for a record-breaking near US$2.0 million, reportedly to a Chinese-Australian sex toy entrepreneur. The sale shattered pre-sale estimates of up to Aus$1.5 million, with the auction hammer coming down at Aus$2.45 million -- more than twice the average cost of a Sydney home. "Just nine of these New South Wales number plates were ever issued, making them ultra-collectible and irreplaceable," said Shannons auction manager Christophe Boribon. "Their unique status and desirability is never going to change. "The opportunity to acquire such a plate is exceptionally rare, as most single-digit plates remain in family hands, are usually passed down through generations and rarely, if ever, come onto the open market." The auction house refused to reveal who the buyer was, but ... More Art Next Expo 2017 announces participating artistsHONG KONG.- Art Next Expo 2017, the second edition of the art fair dedicated to emerging artists from around the world, will be held from October 6 to 9, 2017 at PMQ, Central. Around 100 artists will participate in the Expo and will be grouped under three categories: International Artists, Diversity and Special Project. More than 70 artists from 19 different countries and regions including Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, United Arabs Emirates and USA, will be showcasing their works and competing for the Art Next International Artists Awards. The professional judging panel of leading art experts will select the awardees at the Expo. Prizes include Art Next International Artists Awards in Gold, Silver and Bronze, a cash prize by Art Nexts ... More Solo exhibition of works by Ryuji Miyamoto opens at Taka Ishii Gallery Photography / FilmTOKYO.- Taka Ishii Gallery Photography / Film is presenting Lo Manthang 1996, a solo exhibition of works by Ryuji Miyamoto from August 26 to September 30. Interested in architectures material features beyond their raison d'être or purpose, Miyamoto has been photographing, from a unique perspective, the city as it is transformed, ruined, and revived. This solo exhibition, his first with the gallery, features approximately 22 never-before-shown photographs of the Nepalese walled city Lo Manthang. Since the 1980s, Miyamoto has taken buildings amidst demolition and incidentally emerged anonymous architectural structures as his subjects to confront architecture as an object freed from meaning and purpose. He has also captured such buildings in their relation to their surrounding space as well as latent facets of urban space, or the unconscious of cities. The images ... More Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran opens Dominique Pétrin's first solo exhibition at the galleryMONTREAL.- Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran is presenting Get rid of the fabric softener, Dominique Pétrins first solo exhibition at the gallery. The artist presents a new body of work structured around the notion of collective work and social structures organized during labour. Known for her screen-printing practice and her use of hand-printed paper, which is cut out and then glued together, Dominique Pétrin creates immersive, monumental and for the most part, ephemeral works. Always rigorously conceived in relation to the architecture of the site, her installations are freely inspired by the frescoes of Pompeii, the history of ornament and Internet culture. For her exhibition at the gallery, Pétrin shows a series of quilts that she has been working on for almost two years. Her recent reflections on the production of art objects have led her to rethink the question of traditional ... More Damon's 'Downsizing' on the up in Venice VENICE (AFP).- The Venice film festival kicked off Wednesday with "Downsizing", a sci-fi-inspired drama starring a miniaturised Matt Damon, opening to effusive reviews. Occupying a curtain-raising slot that has come to be seen as a launchpad for films with Oscar ambitions, Alexander Payne's part satirical, part save-the-planet new work was hailed as a breath of fresh air from the "Sideways" and "Nebraska" director. The Hollywood Reporter said Payne had "hit the creative jackpot", while Variety welcomed a "ticklish and resonant crowd pleaser for grown ups". London's Evening Standard was more reserved, praising the film as "often very funny" but bemoaning the abandonment of its initial satirical edge. Set in the near future, the film is based on the premise that scientists have found a way to literally reduce humanity's environmental footprint by downsizing ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, American photographer Helen Levitt was born August 31, 1913. Helen Levitt (August 31, 1913 - March 29, 2009) was an American photographer. She was particularly noted for "street photography" around New York City, and has been called "the most celebrated and least known photographer of her time. She lived in New York City and remained active as a photographer for nearly 70 years. New York's "visual poet laureate" was notoriously private and publicity shy
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