| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Thursday, February 3, 2022 |
| | Uffizi Gallery, bastion of tradition, evolves (slowly) with the times | |
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Eike Schmidt, the Uffizi Gallery director, stands with works by, clockwise from left: Adriana Pincherle, Tesfaye Urgessa, Yayoi Kusama, Renato Guttuso and Marc Chagall, at the museum in Florence, Italy, Jan. 28, 2022. Since his appointment in 2015, Schmidt has slowly been trying to integrate more contemporary art, to increase the presence of female artists and artists of color and to reach a younger, more diverse audience not easy when hamstrung by a legacy as one of Europes leading classical museums and by tourists who expect to see historys greatest hits. Clara Vannucci/The New York Times.
by Robin Pogrebin
FLORENCE.- Walking past the Botticellis, Raphaels and Michelangelos at the Uffizi Gallery, one could understandably be surprised to come upon self-portraits by Ethiopian artist Tesfaye Urgessa and Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. At a time when museums all over the world have been examining how to tell a more inclusive story about art, the Uffizi has been slower to catch up, hamstrung by its legacy as one of Europes leading classical museums and by tourists expecting to see historys greatest hits. But since becoming director in 2015, Eike Schmidt has slowly been trying to integrate more contemporary art, to increase the presence of female artists and artists of color and to reach a younger, more diverse audience. The Uffizi very rarely in the past had contemporary art exhibitions, Schmidt said in a recent interview at the museum. It was seen as intruding on these sacred halls. For me, it has been very important to get the dust off, he added, and ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Installation view, 'Ida Applebroog. Right Up To Now 1969 - 2021', Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2022. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Ken Adlard.
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| It's gold, baby. But Niclas Castello's Cube is nothing new in art. | | Hauser & Wirth opens an exhibition of works by Ida Applebroog | | Meadows Museum acquires major painting by Pedro de Campaña | 
The Castello Cube, consisting of 24-carat, 999.9 gold (weighing 410 lbs) at Central Park, New York City (Wednesday, February 2nd). Photo: Sandra Mika.
by Will Heinrich and Sam Youkilis
NEW YORK, NY.- The fun thing about conceptual art is that its totally easy to create. You can say something about the increasingly virtual way many of us experience the world, and the explosive popularity of NFTs (nonfungible tokens) or seem to say something profound, anyway just by staging a Central Park happening around a knee-high cube of solid gold. At least, thats what the German pop artist Niclas Castello has done. His Castello Cube, cast from more than $10 million worth of 24-karat Nevadan gold, appeared in a patch of icy slush opposite the Naumburg Bandshell on Wednesday, preceded by an over-the-top marketing campaign that included a wraparound ad in that mornings edition of The New York Times. Related NFTs from the artist and even a new digital currency, Castello Coin, will drop later in the month. The artist did privately presell enough ... More | | 
Ida Applebroog, Portraits (Blue Jay), 2019. Ultrachrome ink and gel on mylar, 119.2 x 92.2 cm / 46 7/8 x 36 1/4 in. Photo: Emily Poole.
LONDON.- Ida Applebroog has consistently explored the interconnected themes of power, gender, politics, and sexuality throughout her career. Over the past six decades she has navigated an in-depth inquiry into the polemics of human relations, dissecting and reassembling the world around her spanning diverse mediums and modes of display. The exhibition consists of highlights travelling from the artists largest survey to date at Museo Reina SofÃa, Madrid, alongside important new works created over the past year. This exhibition speaks to the radical introspection of Ida Applebroognow in her 90sas a woman and as an artist, presenting life as it is and the repetitive patterns of our existence. The exhibition opens with a collection of archival photography and technical notes relating to biomorphic sculptures dating from 1969 until the early 1970s. The sculptures constructed from muslin, shredded foam and rubberised cheesecloth were in part ... More | | 
Pedro de Campaña (aka Pieter de Kempener) (Flemish, 1503c. 1580), Calvary, c. 1560. Oil on oak panel, 21 3/8 x 17 5/8 in. (54.4 x 44.8 cm). Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas. Museum purchase with funds from The Meadows Foundation, MM.2021.05. Photo by Kevin Todora.
DALLAS, TX.- The Meadows Museum, SMU announced today that it has acquired a painting of a calvary scene by Pedro de Campaña (born Pieter de Kempener). The highly emotive painting, likely commissioned for personal devotion in a private chapel, features a masterful composition, rich color, and expertly executed depictions of light and dark. Calvary (c. 1560) is the first work by Campaña, who was widely considered to be the most important painter of Renaissance Seville, to enter the Meadows collection. As most works by Campaña are in situ in ecclesiastical settings in Spain, the acquisition of this work presented a rare opportunity for the Meadows to fill a gap in its collection, thereby enabling the museum to present a more complete history of the art of Spain. The painting is currently on view in the museums galleries. Pedro ... More |
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| Hindman appoints Sean Johnson as Senior Watch Specialist | | New at Blue Star Contemporary: Spring exhibitions 'Threads Bare' and the 'Black Art Library' | | Phillips announces works to be sold to support The Warburg Institute | 
Prior to joining Hindman, Johnson was an International Brand Strategist at Billstone, where his work included product development, marketing strategy, luxury trend analysis and building strategic partnerships.
CHICAGO, IL.- Hindman Auctions announces the appointment of Sean Johnson as Senior Specialist for the Watch Department. Johnson brings over a decade of experience working at the intersection of pre-owned marketplaces and the watch industry. Through his time working across five continents with distinguished global companies in the watch sector, Johnson brings an international perspective and excellent customer service experience. Prior to joining Hindman, Johnson was an International Brand Strategist at Billstone, where his work included product development, marketing strategy, luxury trend analysis and building strategic partnerships. Johnson previously served as an Ecommerce Specialist for Jewelry and Watches at Sothebys. He has also collaborated ... More | | 
Mickalene Thomas, Portrait of Qusuquzah.
SAN ANTONIO, TX.- Blue Star Contemporary, San Antonios first and longest-running contemporary art nonprofit, announces spring exhibitions Threads Bare in BSCs Main Gallery and the Black Art Library in the Art Learning Lab. Threads Bare, on view through May 8, is an exhibition investigating intersections of art and fashion through textiles and related materials as medium or subject to generate a more expansive understanding of how fashion and adornment play a role in defining individual and cultural identities. As issues of identity remain at the forefront of political and cultural discourses, the activation of fashion as a means of self-expression continuously evolves. A prevailing impulse to generate autonomy through clothing and accessories serves to comfort and confront our understandings of who we are internally, externally, and collectively.
In an era where performances of identity are increasingly virtual, Threads Bare hi ... More | | 
Michael Joo (b. 1966), DRWN (Carunculatus) AI 2, 2015. Estimate: £15,000-25,000.
LONDON.- Phillips announced that it is partnering with the Warburg Institute to offer works donated by renowned contemporary artists, including Anselm Kiefer, Cornelia Parker and Edmund de Waal, as part of its 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale in London on 4 March. The works are donated in support of the Warburg Institute in London, one of the worlds leading institutions for the study of art and culture, and the Warburg Renaissance, the architectural and intellectual transformation of the Institute. The sales of the works will help to fund the completion of the £14.5m renovation and expansion of the Institutes home in Bloomsbury, led by Stirling Prize-winning architect Haworth Tompkins, to create a more open and accessible building and welcome in and educate a wider audience with new and dynamic public spaces for lectures, exhibitions and digital experimentation. They will also ... More |
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| Paris Print Fair: The new Paris-based fair dedicated to printmaking | | Lund Humphries publishes 'Artemisia Gentileschi' by Sheila Barker | | The George Adams Gallery opens an exhibition of abstract paintings by Elmer Bischoff | 
Bernard Munch, Vers la Fin de l'Automne, c. 1970. Image courtesy of Galerie Martine Namy-Caulier.
PARIS.- Marking its very first edition from May 1922, 2022, the Paris Print Fair, organized by the Chambre Syndicale de lEstampe, du Dessin et du Tableau, will bring together 19 exhibitors from across Europe in the historical Réfectoire du Couvent des Cordeliers in Paris. With its distinct intimate format, the fair will present great masters of printmaking such as Dürer, Rembrandt, Picasso and Goya, alongside current creatives among which Bernar Venet, Barbara Rae and Kathy Prendergast, inviting amateurs and professionals alike to immerse themselves in the countless facets of this storied discipline, at once historical and contemporary. A highlight of the annual Drawing Week, the Paris Print Fair will unfold as a highly specialized event, reflecting its engaged educational approach. As specialists and professionals, we are consistently faced with the question: ... More | | 
Artemisia Gentileschi by Sheila Barker. £30/$40. Hardback. ISBN: 978 1 84822 454 4.
LONDON.- This beautifully illustrated book examines the entire career of Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-c.1654), and includes newly discovered paintings by the artist. 'Sheila Barker paints a rich portrait of Artemisias early career in Rome and Florence during the time that Artemisia lived and worked there, providing details of the artists life as well as the personalities she encountered. All in all, a major contribution to our understanding of Artemisias life and work.' Judith Mann, Curator, European Art to 1800, Saint Louis Art Museum 'Sheila Barkers book provides a compelling and lively introduction to this endlessly fascinating, complex, and essential painter whose ambitious work challenged the gender-restricting conventions of her day by asserting her claim to be the equal of her male colleagues.' Keith Christiansen, Curator Emeritus, The ... More | | 
Tom Burckhardt, Summerian, 2021. Oil on linen, 20 x 16 inches.
NEW YORK, NY.- The George Adams Gallery presents, Bischoff/Burckhardt: A Dialogue, an exhibition of abstract paintings from 1974-1984 by the influential Bay-Area artist Elmer Bischoff, alongside recent paintings by New York-based painter Tom Burckhardt. These two distinct bodies of work will be installed alongside each other with queues of Burckhardts abstracted portraits in counterpoint to the monumental scale of Bischoffs expressive canvases. This will be the first presentation of Bischoffs late work in New York, since his death in 1991 and the first showing of Burckhardts paintings from this series. Both artists have long toyed with the boundaries between abstraction and figuration Bischoff famously so when he rejected his successes as an abstract painter to work figuratively in the early 1950s, before returning to abstraction in the 1970s. It ... More |
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| Andria Hickey appointed Chief Curator of The Shed | | Fine Books & Autographs at Swann Galleries February 17 | | American Federation of Arts names Kimerly Rorschach President of the Board of Trustees | 
Hickey joins The Shed from Pace Gallery where she has been Senior Director and Curator since 2018. Photo: Melissa Goodwin.
NEW YORK, NY.- Alex Poots, Artistic Director and CEO of The Shed, announced that Andria Hickey will join the innovative arts centers senior program team and executive leadership as Chief Curator, beginning March 2. Hickey will oversee the conception and realization of The Sheds visual arts program, working closely with Poots and Senior Program Advisor Hans Ulrich Obrist, and collaborating with the performance and civic program teams led by Madani Younis and Tamara McCaw, respectively, on cross-disciplinary work. Poots said, Andria brings over 15 years of curatorial experience working in a wide range of contemporary art institutionsa collecting museum, alternative art space, public art organization, and most recently, a commercial gallery. Most importantly, she brings a deep commitment to supporting a diverse span of artists at all stages of their careers as they move culture in new directions. ... More | | 
Dawn Powell, Whither, first edition with unrestored pictorial dust jacket, Boston:Small, Maynard & Company, 1925. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.
NEW YORK, NY.- Fine Books & Autographs are at Swann Galleries Thursday, February 17. Autographs from inspirational figures across technology, politics, literature and beyond will feature, alongside scarce first editions from the twentieth century and noteworthy artist books. Twentieth-century literary high spots include a first edition of T.S. Eliots first book, Prufrock and Other Observations, London, 1917, in the original bluff wrappers ($8,000-12,000), and a superb first edition copy of J.D. Salingers The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, 1951, in the first issue dust jacket ($8,000-12,0000). Appearing at auction for the first time is a first edition of Dawn Powells rare disavowed first novel Whither, Boston, 1925 ($6,000-9,000). Also here is an important three-way association copy of Harper Lees To Kill A Mockingbird, Philadelphia & New York, 1962, inscribed by both Lee and her friend and fellow author (and screenwriter ... More | | 
Rorschach served as the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO of the Seattle Art Museum from 2012 until her retirement in September 2019. Photo: Scott Areman. Courtesy Seattle Art Museum.
NEW YORK, NY.- The American Federation of Arts announced Kimerly Rorschach named President of the AFAs Board of Trustees. As the nonprofit AFA looks forward to an exciting year of new exhibitions and programming, Rorschach brings her decades of museum leadership experience to support the AFAs mission to create traveling art exhibitions and scholarly publications that expand art and ideas, providing increased access to art nationally and internationally. Rorschach served as the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO of the Seattle Art Museum from 2012 until her retirement in September 2019. Previously, she was director of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University (20042012) and of the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago (19942004). Rorschach holds a bachelors ... More |
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How to Start an Original Film Poster Collection
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 Affordable Art Fair announces New York Director ahead of 20th anniversary in NYC NEW YORK, NY.- Ramsay Fairs announced the appointment of Erin Schuppert as Fair Director of the Affordable Art Fair New York ahead of its 2022 Spring edition. The upcoming fair includes presentations by over 70 local, national, and international galleries and takes place from Wednesday, March 23 through Sunday, March 27 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea marking the kickoff of its 20th Anniversary celebration in New York. Erin joins the Ramsay Fairs team with eight years of experience in the New York art market. Her previous positions at Menconi & Schoelkopf, Phillips, and Christies span finance and operations with specializations across art departments including American art, contemporary art, and antiquities. As Director, Erin applies her passion for operational strategy and accessible art to her vision for the fair. US ... More  Two new Trustees join Birmingham Museums Trust BoardBIRMINGHAM.- The Birmingham Museums Trust Board announced the appointment of Tony Simpson and Liam Darbon. Tony and Liams appointments help to energise and strengthen the organisations Board of Trustees, with particular focus on marketing and audience development, income generation, and commercial development, along with bringing a wide range of experience and knowledge from their varied careers. Niels de Vos, Chair of Birmingham Museums Trust, said: Tony and Liams appointments continue the work we have been doing to take Birmingham Museums in a bold, fresh direction. Im really looking forward to working with them and the rest of the Board this year, in what is an important time for the city, when the eyes of the world will be on Birmingham. Working with the leadership team we have a long-term vision to ensure ... More  The Museum of Russian Icons opens an exhibition exploring the importance of tea culture in Russian artCLINTON, MASS.- The Museum of Russian Icons presents Tea is for Tradition, February 3 October 2, 2022. Featuring an array of objects associated with tea drinking and the infusion of tea culture into Russian art, craft, and literature, this exhibition features elegant samovars, whimsical wooden dolls doubling as tea caddies, decorative lacquer boxes, sugar jars, tea glasses, and more. Cultivated in the southern parts of the Russian Empire, tea is emblematic of Russian culture, the samovar being the ubiquitous and stately anchor in any Russian home. The ceremony surrounding tea in Russia equals that of Japan in its cultural significance. But how did this ancient beverage come to hold such a place of prominence in Russia? Imagine yourself on a cold winters night, huddled around a table with friends, engrossed in discussions ... More  GOST Books publishes 'Architecture + Beauty' by John BalsomLONDON.- Architecture + Beauty is a compendium of personal projects by photographer John Balsom. Combining his interests in history, casting, documentary and graphic forms, the book draws upon disparate series ranging from diving boards in Australia, the cadets on a USSR training ship, the interior of longest ship operating on the Great Lakes in the US and a multinational, multi-sport event for athletes from Portuguese-speaking nations. The book opens with a visual foreworda short series of black and white photographs of public diving boards in New South Wales, juxtaposed with abstract body parts. Many of these diving platforms, built in the 1950s and 60s deteriorating from the corrosion caused by salty sea airthe crystallisation of the salt within the structure generating enough force to break the exterior over time. The second project ... More  A conductor in demand, and in controlMUNICH.- Lets get this out of the way: Dont expect Mirga Grainytė-Tyla to be the music director of a major American orchestra any time soon. At the moment, I will be much more content to be a simple freelancer, Grainytė-Tyla, 35, said in a recent interview at the Bavarian State Opera here, where she was preparing a new production of Janaceks The Cunning Little Vixen. Its an unusual statement coming from a young conductor in demand, especially one whose current appointment as music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Britain concludes this spring. Even more unusual since Grainytė-Tyla, along with the likes of Susanna Mälkki, is often mentioned as a leading contender to fill vacancies on the horizon at top American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic. But as administrators search for a conductor ... More  Martin McDonagh's 'Hangmen' will open on Broadway this springNEW YORK, NY.- Hangmen has been saved from the executioner. The dark comedy, by British playwright Martin McDonagh, will open on Broadway this spring, two years after the production was canceled by its producer as the coronavirus pandemic forced theaters to close. The resurrected production, about an English hangman at the moment Britain banned capital punishment, will now star Alfie Allen, who played Theon Greyjoy on Game of Thrones, as a mysterious visitor to a bar run by the hangman. The hangman will be played by David Threlfall, a Tony nominee for The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. The play is now scheduled to begin previews April 8 and to open April 21 at the Golden Theater. In 2020, Hangmen, with a slightly different cast, had completed its 13th preview performance, also at the Golden, and was a week ... More  Donald Mahler, prolific ballet choreographer, dies at 88NEW YORK, NY.- Donald Mahler, a ballet dancer and prolific choreographer for the Metropolitan Opera who was the director of the companys own dance troupe, and who was also known internationally for his stagings of ballets by Antony Tudor, died Jan. 25 in Roslyn Heights, New York, on Long Island. He was 88. His sisters and only immediate survivors, Judith Dickinson and Johanna Loeb, confirmed the death. They said he had been in failing health and died at Loebs home, where he had moved last year. In a decidedly unconventional career, Mahler was as apt to choreograph an abbreviated version of Cinderella for children as to restage Echoing of Trumpets, a 1963 work by Tudor about the brutalities of war. One of the 20th centurys greatest ballet choreographers and a founding member of American Ballet Theater, Tudor was not one to cater to those seeking upbeat entertainment. Yet his dark ballets were of vital importance, as Clive Barnes noted in a Dance Magazine revie ... More  In 'Prayer for the French Republic,' echoes of the pastNEW YORK, NY.- The well of naive young Americans being schooled in life, love, politics and croissants by effortlessly worldly French people is in no danger of running dry. The latest addition to this cohort is 20-year-old Molly, a New Yorker who has just met her distant cousins in Paris. Thankfully it is they, not sweet, passive Molly, who are the subjects of Prayer for the French Republic, Joshua Harmons ambitious and maddening, thought-provoking and schematic new play, directed by David Cromer at Manhattan Theater Club. At the very beginning, the matriarch, Marcelle Salomon Benhamou (an excellent Betsy Aidem), painstakingly explains her familys genealogical ties to Molly (Molly Ranson). They are so complicated that Marcelle has to repeat them for the young womans benefit, and of course the audiences as well. Even then, it takes much ... More  In 'MJ,' no one's looking at the man in the mirrorNEW YORK, NY.- There are a lot of strange stories making the rounds, says a documentary filmmaker interviewing Michael Jackson. Understate much? Michael Jackson was such a magnet for strange stories that they nearly obliterated his gift. Yet in defensively brushing off the ones that dont matter while pointedly ignoring the one that does, the new musical MJ, which opened Tuesday at the Neil Simon Theater, may be the strangest Michael Jackson story yet. Not all strangeness is bad, of course, and within the confines of the biographical jukebox genre, MJ, with a book by Lynn Nottage, is actually pretty good for a while. Directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, whose ballet background has found a natural outlet in dance musicals like An American in Paris, the show starts with confidence and verve in a natural setting ... More  J Dilla was a revered rap producer. A new book deepens his legacy.NEW YORK, NY.- Even during his lifetime, there was something unexplainable about J Dilla, the Detroit-born hip-hop producer and emcee. He was an open secret, an under-acknowledged force shifting and shaping modern music. Followers spoke of him reverentially and with enough hyperbole that he could feel inaccessible to listeners who didnt quite get it. In the 16 years since his death, the aura around him has only grown. Writer Dan Charnas conducted nearly 200 interviews to write Dilla Time, a 400-page biography out Tuesday that thoroughly examines the hip-hop producers unique approach. But Charnas, author of the 2010 book The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, could barely recall anything that J Dilla, born James Dewitt Yancey, said during the one occasion they spent together, in the summer of 1999. He remembered ... More  Online-only auctions at Weiss Auctions gross more than $600,000.LYNBROOK, NY.- Weiss Auctions burst into the New Year with a two-day, two-session sale on January 26th and 27th, with many lots sailing past their high estimates. A NASA photo signed by German-born American engineer Dr. Wernher Von Braun sold for $14,400, while a collection of 1916-1930 Standing Liberty quarters soared to $161,000. Prices include the buyers premium. 2022 started just as 2021 ended with a strong auction, one that topped $600,000, said Philip Weiss of Weiss Auctions. Day 1 featured historical memorabilia, Hollywood collectibles and advertising. Day 2 was dedicated to stamps and coins. In all, we registered more than 3,000 bidders for the online-only sale. Next up is a comic and comic art sale slated for February 23rd. The NASA photo signed by Wernher Von Braun had a conservative pre-sale estimate of $400-$600, but ... More |
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'In-Between' 
Primary Colors 
The Last Judgment 
Golden Shells and the Gentle Mastery of Japanese Lacquer
Flashback On a day like today, American painter Norman Rockwell was born February 03, 1894. Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 - November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over nearly five decades. Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter,The Problem We All Live With, Saying Grace, and the Four Freedoms series. In this image: Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), The Problem We All Live With, 1963. Oil on canvas, 36" x 58". Illustration for Look, January 14, 1964. Collection of Norman Rockwell Museum.
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