| The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Thursday, July 26, 2018 |
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A member of the Israeli security forces and an Orthodox Jewish man examine a stone that fell from the Western Wall two days earlier, before its removal in the Old City of Jerusalem, on July 25, 2018. Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz said he could not explain the incident but the fact it happened a day after a major gathering at the Western Wall called for "soul-searching". The massive stone block fell to the ground below, narrowly missing a worshipper. AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP.
by Jonah Mandel
JERUSALEM (AFP).- A huge stone that fell from Jerusalem's Western Wall, barely missing a worshipper, was removed Wednesday as experts took the incident as a sign from above to examine the ancient structure's stability. Two millennia after thousands of labourers had set it in place, the fallen stone was hoisted up by an unassuming crane operator named Yossi. Roughly a metre high and wide and weighing approximately 400 kilogrammes (880 pounds), the stone fell onto a prayer platform on Monday and just missed a woman. On Wednesday, the crane gently laid the stone down on two planks of wood at a nearby zoned-off clearing. Three smaller rocks that had broken off from the stone when it dislodged were also moved. Neither professionals from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) nor rabbis from the Western Wall administration could remember such an occurrence. It took place at a less-visited part of the wall, where men and women are permitted to pray together contrary to Orthod ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day This oil painting by renowned American artist Ernie Barnes leads the International Fine Arts Auction on Sunday July 29th at I.M. Chait Gallery in Beverly Hills, CA. The painting comes from the collection of Joey Bishop, a member of Hollywood's famous Rat Pack, which also included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford.
| US claims largest dinosaur foot ever discovered | | Ecuador displays priceless artifacts recovered from Germany | | Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen restitutes 'Farmhouse Parlour; Study' formerly the property of Ludwig Friedmann | 
This illustration shows a Brachiosaurus eating from an Araucaria tree. These dinosaurs had enormous necks and relatively short tails. The animal to which the foot belongs was nearly 4 meters high at its hip. © Davide Bonadonna, Milan, Italy.
TAMPA (AFP).- About 150 million years ago, a giant, long-necked dinosaur stomped on the ground in the Western US state of Wyoming and left behind what researchers said Tuesday is the largest dinosaur foot ever discovered. The foot bones, found beneath a series of tail bones, extend about three feet (one meter) wide and are believed to belong to a brachiosaur, from a group of extinct herbivores known as sauropods, said the findings in the journal PeerJ. This is an "exceptionally large foot, bigger than the elements of all other known sauropod foot bones," lead author Anthony Maltese, of the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park, Colorado, told AFP in an email. "I get asked often what's the biggest/longest/whatever superlative dinosaur that ever existed, and in this case I can actually provide an answer now," he said. To give a sense of the creature's immense size, its thigh bone alone ... More | | 
A statue, part of 13 archaeological pieces recovered by Ecuador, is displayed at the National Museum in Quito on July 25, 2018. Rodrigo BUENDIA / AFP.
QUITO (AFP).- Ecuador began on Wednesday exhibiting 13 pre-Columbian artifacts illegally transported to Germany after they were taken from archeological digs, bringing to an end six years of legal wrangling. The priceless artifacts included human and animal sculptures as well as vases, some dating back more than 5,000 years. They were found after being put up for auction by the Kuchenmueller family in Germany, who eventually agreed to return them. A member of that family was a university professor in Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, and had taken part in several archeological digs along the Pacific coast. "He was German and when he returned to his country, he took the artifacts," Cesar Molinaro, secretary of Ecuador's committee combating the trafficking of cultural heritage property, told AFP. Joaquin Moscoso, executive director of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, said the recovery was a boost to the defense of Ecuador's "cultural rights and heritage assets." ... More | | 
Ernst Immanuel Müller, Farmhouse Parlour; Study (detail). Oil on canvas, 66.8 x 42.3 cm. Photo: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen.
MUNICH.- As a result of proactive research in 2017/2018 the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen are restituting a work by Ernst Immanuel Müller to the community of heirs of Ludwig Friedmann (30.10.188007.03.1943). The painting entitled Bauernstube (Farmhouse Parlour) is to be handed over to one of the heirs Miriam Friedmann, a granddaughter of Ludwig and Selma Friedmann on behalf of the community of heirs. This is the fourteenth work to be restituted by the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen since the Washington Principles were passed in 1998. As Ludwig and Selma Friedmann were residents of Augsburg and Miriam Friedmann, lives in the city, the restitution will be made at the Schaezlerpalais. It is the community of heirs wish that, in future, the painting remain in the family. The Director General, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Maaz said, Every restitution is a moving, human act and, in the case of the return of ... More |
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| Exhibition of 17th and 18th century pastels on view at the Louvre | | Exhibition features more than one hundred images from the Wilson Centre for Photography | | William Wilberforce to return to Hull as part of major new project launched by National Portrait Gallery | 
Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, Autoportrait à labat-jour et aux lunettes. 1755. Salon de 1755. Pastel sur papier gris bleuté marouflé sur toile tendue sur châssis. 46,4 x 38,2 cm. Musée du Louvre © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Michel Urtado.
PARIS.- The Louvre holds an unrivaled collection of European pastels from the 17th and 18th centuries. Mostly dating from the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, these extremely fragile works, created with a colored powder that has often been compared to that of a butterflys wings, introduce us to Enlightenment society and illustrate the genius of its most celebrated artists: Rosalba Carriera, Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, Jean-Baptiste Perronneau, Jean-Ãtienne Liotard, Jean-Marc Nattier and Ãlisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, together with lesser known artists such as Marie-Suzanne Giroust, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Joseph Boze and Joseph Ducreux. To celebrate the publication of curator Xavier Salmons inventory of this extraordinary collection of some 160 works, the exhibition presents ... More | | 
Roger Fenton, Captain Lord Balgonie, Grenadier Guards, 1855, salted paper print from glass plate negative, courtesy of the Wilson Centre for Photography.
NEW HAVEN, CONN.- This summer, the Yale Center for British Art is presenting an exhibition devoted to one of the earliest forms of photography and a British invention. Salt and Silver: Early Photography, 18401860 explores the dissemination of salt prints across early centers of photographic production in Europe and North America. On view at the Center in New Haven from June 28 to September 9, 2018, this exhibition features more than one hundred seldom-displayed examples on loan from the Wilson Centre for Photography, providing visitors with an opportunity to see some of the rarest photographs in the world. This exhibition will subsequently travel to the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College, where it will be on view from November 10 to December 23, 2018. Pioneered by the English scientist and scholar William Henry Fox Talbot (18001877), and unveiled ... More | | 
A woman looks at a portrait of King Richard III by Unknown artist, late 16th century © National Portrait Gallery, London. Photo: © Jorge Herrera.
LONDON.- Sir Thomas Lawrences famous portrait of the person who led Britain's campaign to abolish slavery and Yorkshire M.P., William Wilberforce will be exhibited in Hull, the place of his birth, for the first time as part of a major new project, Coming Home, launched by the National Portrait Gallery, London today, Wednesday 25 July. Lawrences unfinished portrait of Wilberforce, was one of the first works acquired by the National Portrait Gallery when it was established in 1856 and was said to capture 'the intellectual power and winning sweetness of the veteran statesman'. The work will go on display in the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull in 2019. Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright made his first ministerial visit to the National Portrait Gallery today to launch Coming Home, which will allow the National Portrait Gallery to loan portraits of iconic individuals to places across the country they are most closely associated with. The new ini ... More |
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| Marta Gili leaves the Jeu de Paume | | Taschen to publish Massimo Listri's 'The World's Most Beautiful Libraries' | | Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers to hold an historic telephone auction | 
Marta Gili has transformed the Jeu de Paume into a major contemporary art centre.
PARIS.- After twelve years at the helm of the Jeu de Paume, Marta Gili has taken the decision to resign as Director. Since she was appointed in October 2006, her achievements have been wide-ranging and highly coherent. She has presented 180 solo-artist or themed exhibitions of both historical and contemporary photography, as well as video and online art. Political commitment, the poetical dimension of the artists and the re-discovery of women photographers have been some of the key themes in Marta Gilis programming. A large number of contemporary art projects await her in Spain, notably in Barcelona. She will leave her post on Tuesday 16 October 2018, after the opening of the Dorothea Lange, Ana Mendieta and Alejandro Cesarco exhibitions. Marta Gili has transformed the Jeu de Paume into a major contemporary art centre for photography and other forms of mechanical and electronic images, and established it as a platform for enquiry an ... More | | 
Massimo Listri. The World's Most Beautiful Libraries. Georg Ruppelt, Elisabeth Sladek. Hardcover, 29 x 39.5 cm, 560 pages. US$ 200.
NEW YORK, NY.- From the mighty halls of ancient Alexandria to the coffered ceilings of the Morgan Library in New York, human beings have had a long, enraptured relationship with libraries. Like no other concept and like no other space, the collection of knowledge, learning, and imagination offers a sense of infinite possibility. Its the unrivaled realm of discovery, where every faded manuscript or mighty clothbound tome might reveal a provocative new idea, a far-flung fantasy, an ancient belief, a religious conviction, or a whole new way of being in the world. In this new photographic journey, Massimo Listri travels to some of the oldest and finest libraries to reveal their architectural, historical, and imaginative wonder. Through great wooden doors, up spiraling staircases, and along exquisite, shelf-lined corridors, he leads us through outstanding private, public, educational, and monastic libraries, dating as far ... More | | 
The first phone/emergency call box ever installed in the Yukon Territory in Canada, at the time of the Gold Rush, around the turn of the century, circa 1900.
CRANSTON, RI.- An historical telephone auction featuring items from two regional chapters of Verizons Telephone Pioneers of America Museum one the William J. Denver chapter #20 museum in Providence, R.I., the other the Excelsior Chapter #98 in Buffalo. N.Y. will be held on Saturday, August 4th, by Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers, at 63 Fourth Avenue in Cranston, R.I. The auction comprises an exciting and rare collection of historical telephones, photographs, maps, cables, prototypes, ephemera and more, ranging from the first phone/emergency call box ever installed in the Yukon in Canada to the telephone from President Dwight Eisenhowers Newport, Rhode Island summer White House. In all, more than 500 lots will come up for bid. A pre-sale auction, starting at 10 am Eastern time, will contain about 100 lots, to be sold in-house only. That will be followed immediately, at 11 am, by the ... More |
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| Christie's to offer African and Oceanic masterpieces from the Adolphe Stoclet Collection | | International arts leader appointed as Art Gallery's new Director | | Annual Art Market Report by Jane Kallir of Galerie St. Etienne outlines enormous changes in the art world | 
Yaka head-rest Democratic Republic of Congo. Estimate: 300,000-500,000. ©Christies Images, Ltd 2018.
PARIS.- Christies announced the sale of a selection of African and Oceanic works of art from the Adolphe Stoclet collection to be held on 30 October 2018. The thirty lots have been passed by descent within the family and never been on the market ever since their acquisition by their famous predecessor in the first decades of the 20th century. International collectors will be discovering for the first time, treasures from the Democratic Republic of Congo such as a beautiful Yaka head-rest, one of the best of its kind to remain in private hands (estimate: 300,000-500,000, illustrated above). Also from the Republic of Congo, Christies will present an important royal Luba-Shankadi stool, (estimate: 300,000-500,000) and an exceptional Kifwebe mask from the Songye (estimate: 200,000-400,000). Amongst this offering will also figure ten magnificent Congolese works ... More | | 
Ms Devenport has more than 25 yearsexperience in collection development and exhibition presentation.
ADELAIDE.- Premier Steven Marshall today announced Ms Rhana Devenport as the new Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia, and recognised the fact she is the first female to hold this important role. Ms Devenport has more than 25 yearsexperience in collection development and exhibition presentation across several national and international platforms and, in doing so, has forged significant connections with artists, donors, benefactors and sponsors. Premier Steven Marshall congratulated Ms Devenport on her appointment, which comes at an exciting time for the gallery, with more 800,000 visitors per year, a record-breaking exhibition program and an internationally-regarded collection. Im delighted with Ms Devenports appointment and I look forward to seeing the Gallery continue to flourish under her directorship, Mr Marshall said. Ms Devenport brings to Adelaide a wealth of experien ... More | | 
Jane Kallir has been issuing annual art market reports since 2000.
NEW YORK, NY.- Jane Kallir, co-director of Galerie St. Etienne, has issued her 2018 market report on the state of art world. Kallir has identified a number of conditions that are affecting the market and impacting galleries and auction houses. Among her concerns are: Baby-boomers are aging out of the art market, and not being replaced in comparable numbers. The art market is increasing controlled by the major auction houses and a handful of high-powered dealers. Poaching of big ticket artists by mega-dealers destroys the creative ecosystem that fosters important but less marketable work. The fundamental framework for assessing quality has been replaced by a system in which marketing prowess and financial value often trump aesthetic value. Will fundamental economic changes destroy the art world as we now know it? Kallir notes that millennials earn 20 percent less than boomers did at their ... More |
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First Look: The Most Valuable Car Ever Offered At Auction
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 LACMA welcomes two inaugural LACMA Emerging Art Professionals fellowsLOS ANGELES, CA.- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced that Adrienne Adams and Danielle Galván Gomez have been selected as the inaugural LACMA Emerging Art Professionals (LEAP) Fellows. The LEAP fellowship aims to enrich the diversity of the museum field by exposing recent college graduates with baccalaureate degrees from historically underrepresented groups to a variety of leadership experiences at LACMA. This opportunity is made possible, in part, through the Diversifying Art Museum Leadership Initiative, funded by the Walton Family Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Announced last November, the initiative supports creative solutions to diversify curatorial and management staff at art museums across the United States. As a LEAP fellow, Adrienne Adams will assist Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director, ... More Centre Pompidou opens exhibition of works by Sabine WeissPARIS.- The exhibition staged in the Galerie de Photographies features nearly 80 vintage photographs by Sabine Weiss, mostly unpublished, on the theme of the street. Dating from 1945 to 1960, they come from a group purchased by the Musée National dArt Moderne and a recent donation by the photographer, who decided to entrust a large selection of her works to the Centre Pompidou. Sabine Weiss is now the last representative of the great «Humanist» photography movement. The images produced within this typically French movement have often misguidedly been seen as sentimentalist. French humanist photographers, who mostly worked with the Rapho agency (Edouard Boubat, Robert Doisneau, Jeanine Niepce and Willy Ronis, among others), provided a record of their times through their sociological, non-critical observations. Like her colleagues, ... More Hollywood comes to Surrey as stunning movie poster collection sells at Ewbank'sSURREY.- Some of the greatest names in film history feature in a stunning collection of Vintage Movie Posters for sale at Ewbanks Auctions in Surrey on August 2. Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, James Stewart and other Hollywood Greats appear alongside British stars such as Michael Caine, Sean Connery and Roger Moore in classics such as Star Wars, the James Bond series, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Vertigo and many more. Stunning artwork created for sci-fi films like Warlords of Atlantis and At The Earths Core will rub shoulders with posters from sixties classics like Easy Rider and How To Steal A Million, starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter OToole, while horror fans can feast on Christopher Lee in Dracula has risen from the grave, The Exorcist and The Shining. Former maths teacher Derek East (1939-2011) built the collection was built up over several decades, dedicating ... More Exhibition at Koç University presents photographic albums that document the earliest Ottoman settlementsISTANBUL.- Koç Universitys Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations in Istanbul is presenting the exhibition Ottoman Arcadia: The Hamidian Expedition to the Land of Tribal Roots (1886) until 30 September 2018. It showcases, for the first time, a three-volume set of photographic albums that were prepared following a decree by Abdülhamid II and were eventually gifted to Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor of Germany. In 1886, Abdülhamid II commissioned more than a dozen photograph albums destined for the Yıldız Palace Library. They were the result of an imperial decree that sent a documentary commission of court officials and artists to the earliest Ottoman settlements. Soon thereafter, three of these spectacular albums were gifted by the sultan to Bismarck, in commemoration of the political rapprochement between the two empires at the end of the 19th ... More Museum of London acquires rare panoramic image of 19th-century LondonLONDON.- The Museum of London has acquired a large-scale 360° panorama of London in 1815 by French artist Pierre Prévost. It has been acquired with the help of Art Fund, the Aldama Foundation and a group of individual donors, with additional support from Michael Spencer, the Leche Trust and other donors who wish to remain anonymous. The work is a preparatory watercolour for a now-lost 30-metre panorama previously exhibited in Paris. The only other example of the artists work of a similar size and quality is a view of Constantinople, currently on display in the Louvre. The watercolour is a fascinating and immersive insight into a pivotal time for the city of London. Painted shortly after the Battle of Waterloo, it depicts the view of the cityscape from the tower of St Margarets Church, featuring the former medieval Houses of Parliament building before it was ... More Dr. Monroe E. Harris, Jr. elected president of the Board of Trustees for the Virginia Museum of Fine ArtsRICHMOND, VA.- Monroe E. Harris, Jr., D.M.D., was elected president of the Board of Trustees for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on July 1, 2018. He is the first African American to hold this position in the 82 year history of the institution. Dr. Harris has served on the Board of Trustees at VMFA for five years. Previously, he held the offices of executive vice president and vice president of the Board of Trustees, and as president of the Foundation Board of Directors. He succeeds Michael J. Schewel. He is past president of the Board of the Virginia Repertory Theatre, board chair of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia and serves on the board of the American Civil War Museum. Dr. Harris has previously served as president of the Virginia Board of Dentistry and the Virginia Board of Medical Assistance. For 30 years, Dr. Harris has been ... More British Journal of Photography announces the shortlist for this year's Portrait of Britain exhibitionLONDON.- The annual Portrait of Britain exhibition will be taking place across the country in September, and today British Journal of Photography has announced the 200 shortlisted images. The winning 100 images will be revealed at the end of August in time for the launch of the exhibition, which opens on the 1st September. Each year Portrait of Britain takes place across JCDecaux's national channel of digital screens with 100 portraits of the British public displayed in rail, retail, and roadside locations in cities nationwide This year all 200 shortlisted images will also be printed in a book published by Hoxton Mini Press and released on the 6th September at a special event. Who are we? Its a simple enough question, yet not so easy to answer beyond some basic assumptions. Talk about a country in this case, one going through some serious soul-searching ... More 'Hamilton' to be celebrated at Kennedy Center HonorsWASHINGTON (AFP).- The groundbreaking musical "Hamilton" will be celebrated this year at the Kennedy Center Honors, one of America's top celebrations of the arts -- the first time a work rather than an individual or group is recognized. The Kennedy Center, the performing arts complex in Washington that serves as a living monument to slain president John F. Kennedy, announced Wednesday that it will also honor leading composer Philip Glass, pop superstar Cher, country crooner Reba McEntire and jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter on December 2. The Kennedy Center Honors traditionally take place in the presence of the president but Donald Trump, despised by many cultural and entertainment figures, skipped the gala evening last year. The 2018 edition looks unlikely to be any different as both "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and Cher are vociferous ... More eBay for Charity partners with Ernesto Neto to offer work benefitting Fondation BeyelerBASEL.- eBay for Charity has partnered with artist Ernesto Neto to offer a limited-edition artwork, with proceeds benefitting the American Friends of Fondation Beyeler (AFFB). Available exclusively on eBay, the new work is titled We Are All Children of the Earth (2018), and is a numbered edition of 1,000 works with printed signature of the artist available for $620 each at eBay.com/ErnestoNeto, beginning July 23 through August 2, or until the works sell out. The sale coincides with the Fondation Beyelers public art installation by Neto in Zurich Main Station, titled GaiaMotherTree, on view June 30 through July 29, 2018. Inspired by GaiaMotherTree, Netos latest sculpture is a hand-knotted crochet-bag carrying a holy fruit, the mango, made of stone plaster. The sculpture hangs from the ceiling with the mango ... More 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle 'find,' his World Series home run record-setting jersey anchor Heritage saleDALLAS, TX.- The most important sports memorabilia auction of the summer is now open for bidding at HA.com/50005, closing in Extended Bidding format on Aug. 18-19. Nearly 500 lots feature the finest trading cards and collectibles in the marketplace, with more than a dozen items expected to surpass the six-figure mark. Mickey Mantle, whose retirement from Major League Baseball will mark its Golden Anniversary this year, is likely to command the top three results in the auction. A pair of ultra-high-grade 1952 Topps cards from a new-to-the-hobby find will feed fans unquenchable thirst for the most significant post-war trading card. The 1964 jersey the Mick was wearing as he hit the 17th and 18th World Series home runs of his Hall of Fame career will tempt the ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, German painter George Grosz was born July 26, 1893. George Grosz (July 26, 1893 - July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity group during the Weimar Republic. In this image: George Grosz, Deutschland, ein Wintermärchen, 1918 (Germany, a Winter's Tale). Watercolour, reed pen, pen and ink, 50.8 x 36 cm. Private Collection, Courtesy Richard Nagy Ltd, London
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