| The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Thursday, June 1, 2017 |
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| | Frick Collection opens "Divine Encounter: Rembrandt's Abraham and the Angels" | |
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In the panel and in the other works included in the showa tightly focused selection of prints and drawings and a single copper plateRembrandt explored, in different media, the nature of divine presence and the ways it was perceived. Photo: Michael Bodycomb.
NEW YORK, NY.- Beginning in the late 1630s and increasingly through the 1640s, Rembrandt shifted away from the dynamic movement of his earlier work towards imagery characterized by stillness and calm. These are the defining qualities of the artists Abraham Entertaining the Angels of 1646, in which a momentous episode of divine revelation unfolds in the most hushed of waysdramatic action replaced by subtle gesture and an astonishing luminosity, all within a panel measuring fewer than nine inches wide. On loan from a private collection and displayed publicly for the first time in more than ten years, this extraordinary painting is the centerpiece of a small exhibition dedicated to Rembrandts depictions of Abraham and his various encounters with God and his angels, as recounted in the book of Genesis. In the panel and in the other works included in the showa tightly focused selection of prints and drawings and a single copper plateRembrandt explored, in different media, the ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day People look at the restored fresco "dei Fornai" (bakers) cubicle, during a visit after the restoration of the catacomb of Santa Domitilla, in central Rome, on May 30, 2017. Andreas Solaro / AFP
| New US writers museum puts modern spin on literary history | | Lévy Gorvy to represent Dan Colen | | The Contemporary Austin transfers legacy art collection to the Blanton Museum of Art | 
A timeline representing 500 years of American literary history greets visitors at the American Writers Museum in Chicago, May 25, 2017. Nova SAFO / AFP.
CHICAGO (AFP).- At Chicago's newly-opened American Writers Museum, Jack Kerouac's biographer tells an audience how the Beat Generation's bible was inspired by the author's deep affection for his country. "'On the Road' is a love letter to America," says Dennis McNally, standing just steps from the 120-foot (36.5-meter) scroll on which Kerouac typed out his best-known book. "He loved being an American and he romanticized it," he said of the novel depicting a post-World War II generation looking to break out of the societal constraints of the 1950s. The first-of-its-kind museum is dedicated to writers who helped shape America's history and culture -- from Ernest Hemingway to chef Julia Child to rapper Tupac Shakur. "The theme of the museum is to really look at American writing and American writers, and celebrate them in the way that we celebrate all kinds of people, ... More | | 
Portrait of Dan Colen by Christopher Burke. Courtesy Lévy Gorvy.
NEW YORK, NY.- Dominique Lévy and Brett Gorvy, partners of Lévy Gorvy, join Gagosian and Massimo de Carlo, Milan, in representing American artist Dan Colen (b. 1979, New Jersey). In close collaboration with the artist, Lévy Gorvy will foster Colens work and its place within the broader discourse of contemporary art through curated exhibitions, publications, and commissioned scholarship and research. The gallery's first exhibition with Colen will go on view in New York in March 2018, featuring three new bodies of work that navigate the zone of indeterminacy between abstraction and representation. Lévy Gorvy will also feature a major new painting by the artist, Purgatory (2017), in its booth at the upcoming Art Basel fair in Switzerland in June 2017. Dominique Lévy commented: Dan Colen is a leading figure of his generation of artists whose practice is deeply rooted in the history of painting. He challenges this ... More | | 
Lance Letscher, Red Bar, 2002 (detail). Collage Paper Dimensions: 32 x 52 1/2 inches. 2002.18 Collection of The Contemporary Austin. Purchase through funds provided by the 2002 Director's Circle.
AUSTIN, TX.- The Contemporary Austin and the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) announce the historic transfer of a collection of more than 700 artworks from The Contemporary to the care of the Blanton. Comprised largely of works on paper from the late nineteenth century to 2010, the collection to be transferred was originally built by the Texas Fine Arts Association (TFAA), Laguna Gloria Art Museum (LGAM), and the Austin Museum of Art (AMOA). The Contemporary Austin's predecessors initiated the collection including works in all media, but with a special focus on works on paper by Texas-based and regional artists. Artists from or based in Texas, such as UT faculty member Sarah Canright, Jeffrey Dell, Lance Letscher, David McGee, and Dario Robleto, are well represented in the collection. ... More |
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| 7 ways online auctions are shaping the art, antiques, and collectibles market | | Exhibition at Xavier Hufkens presents works spanning every stage of Robert Mapplethorpe's working life | | Complete Marc Chagall portfolio to lead Bonhams Prints and Multiples Sale | 
A set of Ikeas Verner Panton chairs from 1994 sold for $2,875.
NEW YORK, NY.- What is selling at auction? Not what you might expect. Never has the vintage, art and antiques market been so robust with a flood of new buyers, explains Pontus Silfverstolpe, a founder of Barnebys.com, an international online service that helps people search for, compare, and buy items from dealers and auction houses around the world. The burgeoning online art market is building new audiences of younger buyers seeking unique items at all price points. Status objects and at the other end of the spectrum a deep desire for nostalgia, dominate demand in the auction industry, explains Silfverstolpe, who points to interesting developments in the auction market: The staple of dorm rooms and first apartments, it may be ironic that Ikea furniture is in demand at auction. A 1950s Ikea "Ã
ke" sofa recently sold at auction for $3,700, while a set of Ikeas Verner Panton chairs from 1994 ... More | | 
Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait (edition of 10 + 2AP; this is 8/10), 1983. Silver gelatin print, 50,8 x 40,6 cm. Courtesy: the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and Xavier Hufkens, Brussels.
BRUSSELS.- Xavier Hufkens announced a new exhibition dedicated to the work of the American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (19461989). Comprising some forty prints, the presentation spans every stage of the artists working life and includes representative examples of the defining themes within his oeuvre, most notably portraits, self-portraits, flowers, figure studies and bondage tableaux. Mapplethorpes career was as glittering as it was controversial. Feted and vilified in equal measure, he ran a hugely successful commercial studio while also producing some of the most contentious and hotly-debated photographs of the twentieth-century. Although his unflinching depictions of homosexuality, S&M and bondage provoked a fierce moral backlash at the time (gay sex was not legalised in NY until 1980), these are now ... More | | 
Marc Chagall, Le Cirque. Complete portfolio of 38 lithographs. Estimate: £120,000-180,000. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- Le Cirque, a rare, complete portfolio of 38 lithographs by the Russian/French artist Marc Chagall (1887-1985) leads Bonhams Prints and Multiple Sale in London on 27 June. It is estimated at £120,000-180,000. Cirque was printed in an edition of 250 in 1967, but the idea for the series had first been proposed in the mid-1930s by Chagalls art dealer Ambrose Vollard, (whose name is immortalised in the Vollard Suite, the 100 lithographs which he commissioned from Picasso). Vollard shared Chagalls passion for the circus, and often invited the painter to share his box at the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris. Chagalls fascination with the circus and its performers dates from his childhood in pre-revolutionary Vitebsk (then part of the Russian Empire; now in Belarus). He saw a destitute man and his young children perform a handful of clumsy, ... More |
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| Rare handscroll attributed to Song Dynasty master tops HK$10,000,000 at Bonhams Hong Kong | | SFMOMA appoints Eungie Joo as the museum's first Curator of Contemporary Art | | Meta Housing completes $32M arts-focused affordable apartment community | 
A spectacular work of a group of four flower paintings painted using ink and colour on gold paper by Cheng Shifa went for HK$562,000 (US$72,000). Photo: Bonhams.
HONG KONG.- A rare handscroll of Nine Songs attributed to Li Gonglin, was sold for HK$10,140,000 (US$1.3m) at Bonhams Fine Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy Sale in Hong Kong on 26 May. In total the sale made, HK$55,150,000 (US$7m). The handscroll, rendered in graded tones of ink, illustrated legendary figures from antiquity, with each individual image accompanied by a calligraphic inscription. It excited enormous interest, and it took 20 minutes of tense bidding between six determined collectors in the room, on the phone and on the internet before the hammer fell on the winning bid. Other highlights included Two paintings by Lu Yanshao from the Collection of Professor William Wu, sourced in San Francisco, that sold for a total of HK$10,560,000 (HK$1.35M). Cloud Waves at Wu Gorge made HK$7,380,000 (US$950,000), and Lushan Cottage, HK$3,180,000 (US$410,000). From the same ... More | | 
Joo was most recently artistic director of the city-sponsored 5th Anyang Public Art Project/APAP 5. Photo by Heinz Peter Knes.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art today announced the appointment of Eungie Joo as curator of contemporary art, a newly established role that will support SFMOMAs mission to engage with the art and artists of our time. Most recently the artistic director of the 5th Anyang Public Art Project/APAP 5 in Anyang, Korea, Joo will join SFMOMA in June 2017. This appointment confirms the museums commitment to new generations of artists across all media, as well as to exploring contemporary issues through scholarship on a local, national and international level. Eungies arrival signals a deepening of SFMOMAs commitment to contemporary art. Her international experience in Asia, the Middle East, South America and beyond positions her to convene important conversations and create innovative projects that will help define the art of our time in the broadest sense, said Ruth Berson, deputy museum director of ... More | | 
Meta Housing Corporation has completed ACE/121, a 70-unit affordable apartment community for artists and their families in Glendale, California.
GLENDALE, CA.- Meta Housing Corporation has completed ACE/121, a 70-unit affordable apartment community for artists and their families in Glendale, California. The new apartment community integrates a variety of art amenities and was developed in partnership with the City of Glendale, the YMCA of Glendale and Western Community Housing, Inc. This project will support the ongoing revitalization of the region and serve as a catalyst for a designated Art & Entertainment district in Glendale, says Kasey Burke, President of Meta Housing. In many cases, defining an Arts District can lead to gentrification and rent increases that drive artists out. However, the City of Glendale sought out a partner that could deliver a unique artistic experience while preserving affordability, which is exactly what we provided. ACE/121 is Meta Housings fifth Arts Colony project in Los Angeles, and its second to be open to non-senior re ... More |
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| Nigerian sculptor Nnenna Okore exhibits at Jenkins Johnson Gallery | | Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Campus redevelopment update: Kinder Building breaks ground | | Nelson-Atkins' Bloch Building celebrates 10th anniversary | 
Okochi (Dry Season), 2017. Burlap, dye and wire, 68 x 66 x 12 inches.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Jenkins Johnson Gallery announces Nnenna Okore: Osimili. The Nigerian raised Fulbright Fellows exhibition of abstract, richly textured wall sculptures from recycled materials will be on view from June 1 July 15, 2017. Metaphorically speaking, Osimili, the Igbo word for a huge body of water, alludes to the fluidity and volatility of life. By referencing organic elements in nature, such as roots, veins, and flora, the works highlight the complex dynamism of our cosmic existence the animistic force that breathes life into matter. The inference to water underscores the phenomenon of transience and transformation. This exhibition will express the theatrics of movement and flow, and the subtle reflections of aging, fragility, decay, materiality and ephemerality. The abstract sculptures comprising Osimili, surround the viewer with works extending up the walls and onto the ceiling or into the center of ... More | | 
Interior view of Kinder building; lobby/forum gallery. Courtesy of Steven Holl Architects.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, today broke ground on the Nancy and Rich Kinder building for modern and contemporary art, designed by Steven Holl Architects. The 165,000-square-foot structure will house 54,000 square feet of gallery space for exhibitions and for the Museums collections of modern and contemporary art. The building will be clad in a translucent-glass exterior, which will glow when lit from within at night, and its perimeter will be inset with six pools of water at ground level. Additional features include a 200-seat theater, a café, a restaurant overlooking the sculpture garden, and an underground parking garage. One pedestrian tunnel will connect the Kinder building to the new Glassell School of Art, and a second will connect it to the existing Caroline Wiess Law Building, across Bissonnet Street. The 14-acre redesign of the Museums Susan and Fayez S. Sarofim Campuswhich, in ... More | | 
The Bloch Building was designed by Steven Holl. Photo: Roland Halbe.
KANSAS CITY, MO.- The magical Bloch Building, an award-winning architectural marvel designed by Steven Holl as an expansion of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a special exhibition, An Iconic Addition, that opens on June 7. The Bloch Building represents an architectural accomplishment of international importance as well as a turning point in architect Holls career. Although the project received criticism during its planning and construction, in the 10 years since opening, the iconic addition has become a point of civic pride and has received critical raves. The New York Times called it a work of haunting power. TIME Magazine proclaimed, The effect against the nighttime sky is nothing short of magical. The Bloch Building has become emblematic of Kansas Citys rising prominence in design and the fine ... More |
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An inner, imaginary landscape: Zao Wou-Ki's 29.09.64
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 Berry Campbell exhibits nineteen recent paintings and works on paper by Mike SolomonNEW YORK, NY.- Berry Campbell Gallery announces the exhibition Mike Solomon: Immediate Splendor featuring nineteen recent paintings and works on paper. The exhibition opens with a reception on Thursday, June 1, 2017 from 6 to 8 pm and will continue through July 8. Mike Solomon is currently included in the permanent collection exhibition, Art of Our Time, curated by Matthew McLendon at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida. Following his exhibition at Berry Campbell, Solomon is preparing for a solo museum exhibition at the Greenville County Museum of Art, South Carolina. Mike Solomon has exhibited widely throughout the United States at museums, galleries, and art fairs and was recently included in Defining Abstraction curated by Mark Ormond at the Ringling College of Art and ... More Solo exhibition of new works by Glasgow-based artist Sara Barker on view at The ApproachLONDON.- a weak spot in the earth is the debut solo exhibition of new works by Glasgow-based artist Sara Barker (b. 1980, Manchester). Barkers practice traverses and blurs the thresholds between sculpture, painting and drawing; using these disciplines, and in turn their associated materials and techniques, as a way to create space, both physically and metaphysically. Barker draws on inspiration from Modernist and Post-Modernist (and primarily feminist) writers, such as Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Doris Lessing, Hélène Cixous and Aya Kōda, whose text, Mirrors, supplies the first line of a newly imagined visual poem composed by Barker. The text navigates us through this exhibition, it is broken up and assigned as titles, both to the show itself and to each of the works within, leading our actual bodies, verse by verse, through the psychological space of the poem: ... More Nicole Eisenman presents a concise group of painted reliefs at Anton Kern GalleryNEW YORK, NY.- Coinciding with her large presentation of five over-life-size bathers at Skulptur Projekte Münster in Germany this summer, New York artist Nicole Eisenman presents a concise group of painted reliefs at Anton Kern Gallery. These surprising explorations of improbably shaped forms and color underscore the artists aptitude to fluidly move between painting, drawing, printmaking and the making of sculptures. The exhibition will be on view in the third-floor gallery from Thursday, June 1st through July 7th, 2017. The painted reliefs presented are unique aluminum casts of found object assemblages, which Eisenman has tweaked and carved to resemble human heads and faces. To amalgamate the often ephemeral and incongruent materials, the artist cast the objects in aluminum, thereby giving a voice to these casual materials and transforming ... More Fridman Gallery opens group exhibition curated by Gregory VolkNEW YORK, NY.- There is a background for Flair, which includes President Trump. Also the Republican-dominated congress (it seems that every day brings at least one and sometimes several jaw-dropping outrages from Washington); Putin striving to be a new tsar; Erdogan in Turkey angling to be an autocratic new sultan; Brexit with its hunker down, us-against-them, island mentality, and Marine Le Pen in France gussying up a quasi-fascist, anti-immigrant party with virulent anti-Semitic roots. All of this, and a whole climate of resurgent nationalism, populism, racism, sexism, and hostility to others who might look and think differently than us. Thats the political and cultural context for Flair, yet this is not an overtly political exhibition, in the sense of presenting artworks that address this or that issue, no matter how pressing and important. It is, however, deeply political in its ... More Phillips names Katherine Kerr Director of Top Client Program and Valuations Manager NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips announced the appointment of Katherine Kerr as Director of its Top Client Program and Valuations Manager for 20th Century & Contemporary Art, adding considerable expertise and depth to the companys relationships with leading collectors around the world. Ms. Kerr joins Phillips from Ruth Catone, a private consultancy for collectors of modern and contemporary art, where she was responsible for business development. Previously, she worked for Sothebys from 2004 to 2016, most recently as an Assistant Vice President for Business Development for Contemporary Art, working directly with global department heads and senior specialists on business development and client relationship strategy. In her new role with Phillips, Ms. Kerr will work very closely with Phillips newly created Chairmans Office, ... More The Birmingham Museum of Art announces new Curator of Education BIRMINGHAM, AL.- The Birmingham Museum of Art announces Rachel White as its new Curator of Education. White previously served as Assistant Curator of Education at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga and joined the Museum on May 30. Each year, the Museum produces numerous public educational programs and develops various interpretive materials for its encyclopedic collection of more than 27,000 objects. In her new role, White will oversee the development, implementation, and management of the Museums education initiatives, alongside a team of six colleagues, and numerous docents and volunteers. She will design and lead the Museums interpretive strategies that align with the BMA mission and vision. In this age of technology, the ways people enjoy and learn about art are changing, and we look forward to the energy and leadership ... More Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art appoints Head of Asian and Pacific ArtBRISBANE.- Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Director Chris Saines today announced the appointment of renowned curator Zara Stanhope as the Gallerys Curatorial Manager of Asian and Pacific Art. We are delighted to welcome Zara, who has over 20 years experience in curatorial and collection management in lead roles in art institutions in Australia and New Zealand, Mr Saines said. Along with an expansive curatorial practice focusing on Australian, New Zealand and Pacific art, she will bring to the Gallery a great depth of strategic thinking, management experience and strong local and international networks. As head of the Gallerys dynamic Asian and Pacific art team, Zara will have responsibility for QAGOMAs flagship exhibition series, The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, and its world leading collection of contemporary Asian and Pacific art, he said. Most recentl ... More Exhibition aims to observe the link we have with our own image and way it affects contemporary artLAUSANNE.- As has been declared by many a theory, our contemporary day and age is that of the realm of images. Paradoxically, it has never been more difficult for each and every one of us to read, analyze, and interpret them. The speed at which they are disseminated, especially by the new technologies, seems to be inversely proportional to our ability to grasp them in all their complexity. If there is an object closely bound up with the image, which has come through the ages and the different genres of creation - from art to literature, and from the new media to design - it has to be the mirror. As an object with a scopic function, it also has powerful symbolic connotations. So we find it associated with different myths from various cultures, and it has a significant place in the psychoanalytical discourse, an essential structural element in the so-called mirror stage. ... More SinoTibetan Bronzes shine at Kaminski Auctions Summer Asian Antiques AuctionBEVERLY, MASS.- Kaminski Auctions announces its summer Asian Antiques and Estate Auction to be held Sunday, June 11, 2017. The two-session sale commences with Asian Art and Antiques in Session One starting at 10:00 am EST followed by the Estate portion of the sale in Session Two. Kaminski Auctions Asian specialist has brought a selection of new to the market pieces including an exciting selection of Sino-Tibetan bronzes from private collections all over New England. Four in particular highlighted in the sale include lot numbers #6038 through #6041. Beginning with a rare15th-16th century Sino-Tibetan bronze Tara figure of the Mid- Ming dynasty, seated in the Lalitasana position on a double lotus base. The right hand in the Varada mudra and the left hand raised in Vitarka mudra. With both hands holding the stem of a lotus blossom at the shoulders. From ... More Almine Rech opens exhibition of works by Ha Chong-HyunLONDON.- In 1972, Ha Chong-Hyun made a small sculpture, which appears on its own as if anticipating his subsequent work as a painter. It consists of a hemp rope stretched across a wooden box so tightly that a few unraveling strands threaten to break the entire cordage. Extremely effective, the composition is as simple as its material is banal. An image of great tension and resistance, it epitomizes the artists practice and further announces his Conjunctions, a lifelong series of paintings, which was initiated in 1974 and is still ongoing to this day. Ha Chong-Hyun turned to abstraction in the early 1960s, belonging to the first generation of Korean artists who embraced this aesthetical direction. While he first approached it by applying heavy materials onto canvases, his way of structuring the pictorial space was also close to that of European Informel[1]. He then continued ... More Sri Lanka's leading artist Senaka Senanayake heads for London's Grosvenor Gallery LONDON.- Senaka Senanayake's work can be found in the White House, the UN building in New York, in museums, private collections and corporate headquarters of multinationals around the world. He has held over a hundred exhibitions in over 18 countries spanning the five continents. Now he is coming to the Grosvenor Gallery in London this June. The painting in the White House depicts a seascape in Sri Lanka and was given by the Government of Sri Lanka to President Lyndon Johnson. The United Nations painting depicting rice cultivation was a commission by the UN architect Abel Sorensen. Senaka Senanayake is Sri Lanka's foremost artist. Starting out as a child prodigy his first exhibition in America was when he was just nine years old has recently turned his attention to the flora and fauna of the rain-forest. His exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent died June 01, 2008. PARIS.- Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, known as Yves Saint Laurent, was an Algerian-born French fashion designer who was considered one of the greatest names in French fashion in the 20th century. In 1985, Caroline Rennolds Milbank wrote, "The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture's rise from its sixties ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear reputable". In this image: A customer at Christie's auction house looks over Henri Matiise's, 'Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose, 1911, (estimated at 12-18 million euros), part of the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge art collection.
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