| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Thursday, May 14, 2020 |
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| | Europe's museums begin reopening, cautiously, with new rules | |
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Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science Ingrid van Engelshoven visits the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on May 11, 2020. Dutch restaurants, cafes, museums and theatres will be allowed to accommodate a maximum of 30 people, including staff respecting the social distancing rules from June 1, the Dutch government said. Olaf KRAAK / ANP / AFP.
by Thomas Rogers
BERLIN (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Elli Gericke, 20, was among the first visitors to the Berlinische Galerie as it reopened Monday after an eight-week closure. In accordance with the art museums new rules, she was wearing a blue cloth mask and keeping at least 5 feet from other people. She said that she liked the main exhibition a retrospective of Umbo, an avant-garde German photographer and expressed relief about seeing art in person after months of being mostly indoors. But, she added, she felt restricted by the new regulations. You cant relax when you look at the images, you cant breathe, she said. Its not the same as before. With confirmed coronavirus infections declining across Europe in recent weeks, several countries have announced plans to reopen museums, and Germany is among the earliest. Museum directors have become pioneers in figuring out how to kick-start cultural institutions in the midst of a pandemic, and in reinventing the museum experience f ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day This picture shows the Motherland monument lit up in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev during the lighting protest "Stop Cultural Quarantine" on May 12, 2020. The action was held to raisee attention on some 250,000 artists, musicians, choreographers, decorators asking to ease the restrictions to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the cultural sphere. SERGEI SUPINSKY / AFP
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 | | Perrotin presents a new series of portraits by Claire Tabouret | | Sotheby's launches innovative new sale format -- "In Confidence: Selected Masterpieces" | | When Manhattan was Mannahatta: A stroll through the centuries | 
The Siblings (orange), 2020. Acrylic and ink on paper, 139.7 Ã 106.7 cm | 55 Ã 42 inch. Framed: 158.1 Ã 125.1 Ã 5.1 cm | 62 1/4 Ã 49 1/4 Ã 2 inch. Photo: Martin Elder. Courtesy the artist and Perrotin.
by Lucy Dahlsen
SEOUL.- Started in 2019, Claire Tabourets new series of portraits were initiated in a time when gatherings were frequent and interaction encouraged. The artist finished this new body of work in a context that has fundamentally changed, while we are forced into global lockdown by pandemic. Tabourets own outlook on her work has evolved, and these portraits serve as a reminder of the power in community and the importance of remaining connected even while we are separated. Her exhibition, Siblings, carries a certain nostalgia made heartrending by the isolation we all experience. Claire Tabourets practice is a navigation of shifting perspectives. Each painting begins from the vantage point of the last, each exhibition from what has come before. But there is always a new departure. The portrait has been central to Tabourets work ... More | | 
A Large and Exceptionally Rare Carved Celadon-Glazed 'Dragon' Vase, Meiping, Seal Mark and Period of Qianlong, 35.3 cm. Courtesy Sotheby's.
HONG KONG.- Sothebys announced the launch of In Confidence: Selected Masterpieces, an innovative hybrid sale format that combines the advantages of a private sale with those of an auction. Under this novel sale approach, bids are placed exclusively by submitting written absentee bids. Bidders will be notified if they have been outbid and will have a final chance to submit a best and final offer by the pre-set deadline, at which point the winning bidder will be established. All bidding information and results will remain confidential. The bidding process will be monitored by an independent auditor. To be held from 15 - 23 May 2020, In Confidence: Selected Masterpieces presents a carefully curated assemblage of masterworks spanning a breadth of categories from Chinese Works of Art and Paintings to Modern and Contemporary Art, Jewellery and Whisky. Highlights include a céladon carved 'dragon' meiping from the Qianlong period, a triptych from ... More | | 
The New York State Supreme Court in New York, May 7, 2020. The building stands on the edge of the former Collect Pond. Vincent Tullo/The New York Times.
by Michael Kimmelman
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Before the first Dutch colonists sailed through the Narrows into New York Harbor, Manhattan was still what the Lenape, who had already lived here for centuries, called Mannahatta. Times Square was a forest with a beaver pond. The Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, at Foley Square, was the site of an ancient mound of oyster middens. Eric W. Sanderson is a senior conservation ecologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society, based at the Bronx Zoo. In 2009 he published Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City. The book geolocated old maps onto the modern city to reimagine a cornucopia of hills, beaches, fields and ponds. This is the latest in a series of (edited, condensed) virtual walks with architects and others. I spoke with Sanderson by phone. Our stroll explored lower Manhattan. We met where the Staten Island Ferry ... More |
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| | Jewels leads the new height of online sales | | Success at Bonhams for live behind closed doors Modern British Art sale | | Strauss & Co combined auction success during Covid 19 affirms support for the arts and fine wine | 
A spectacular diamond ring of 28.86 carats, D color, VVS1 clarity, Type IIA. Estimate: $1,000,000 2,000,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
NEW YORK, NY.- Since the highly successful inaugural Elizabeth Taylor online sale in December 2011, Christies continues to innovate with online across all categories for collectors worldwide. In the June 16-30th sale, Christies Jewels will offer the largest D color diamond to be offered for sale online. Estimated at $1-2m, this is the highest valued lot ever offered for sale online at Christies. Encouraged by record online participation and the increased level of transaction, Christies Jewels has enhanced its online sales calendar to include higher value property and to offer a new sale each month. The June Online sale will be led by a spectacular diamond ring of 28.86 carats, D color, VVS1 clarity, Type IIa ($1,000,000 - 2,000,000), the highest valued lot ever offered in an online-only sale at Christies. Rahul Kadakia, International Head of Jewelry at Christies, ... More | | 
Cecil Beaton, (British, 1904-1980), Lady D'Abernon, After Sargent (unframed). Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- Bonhams first live behind-closed-doors sale in the UK yesterday (Tuesday 12 May 2020) was a great success.The Modern British and Irish Art sale in Knightsbridge achieved an impressive 84% sold by lot and 88% sold by value. The sale also saw a record number of bidders for the department. Amongst the highlights were a section of 22 sketches by the renowned photographer Cecil Beaton for The Book of Beauty, all of which sold, many above estimate. One of the most important and revered photographers of the 20th century, Cecil Beaton became associated with the glamour of the young members of high society in the 1920s, his images capturing a sense of youthful abandon and conscious self-fashioning in the aftermath of the First World War. His work would go on to define the era of the Bright Young Things the name given to the crowd of young, intelligent and beautiful people Beaton called friends, ... More | | 
One of the aims of the specialist wine sale has been to establish credible benchmark prices for wine collectors.
CAPE TOWN.- Strauss & Cos first virtual sale of South African and international fine wines, held in full compliance with national lockdown regulations, saw all 115 lots in this Bordeaux-themed sale find buyers. Hosted by online auction platform Invaluable.com, the white-glove sale auction parlance for 100% sales in a session earned a total of R2.12 million, far surpassing the initial pre-sale high estimate for the collectable wines sold. I am very proud of this emphatic result and what it signals for the South African wine industry during this difficult time in our countrys history, says Strauss & Co chairperson Frank Kilbourn. Strauss & Cos partnership with Invaluable enabled our clients to compete effortlessly for lots in real time. The bidding was energetic and simulated the vitality of being in an auction room. While we celebrate our clients adoption of this platform, the key thi ... More |
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| | Yale University Press offers first original art history e-book | | When the New York Philharmonic fought over Santa Claus | | The P.G. Wodehouse Collection of William Toplis achieves a 96% sell-through rate at Freeman's | 
Born-digital title on Impressionism launching exclusively on the A&Aeportal.
NEW HAVEN, CONN.- Yale University Press commissioned a new ebook for the A&AePortal, its innovative art and architecture platform, going live in July 2020. The Presss first original art ebook, Globalizing Impressionism: Reception, Translation, and Transnationalism is a digital-only volume exclusively available on the A&AePortal. Editors Alexis Clark, PhD, Visiting Scholar at Duke University, and Frances Fowle, PhD, Personal Chair of Nineteenth-Century Art, University of Edinburgh and Senior Curator, French Art, the National Galleries of Scotland, compiled this groundbreaking collection of essays from the Courtauld Institute of Arts 2017 international conference "Writing Impressionism Into and Out of Art History, 1874 to Today. The e-publication explores the specific ways Impressionism, both as a term and as a style, was globalized. Patricia Fidler, Publisher, Yale University Press Art and Architecture, said, We ... More | | 
The French conductor Louis-Antoine Jullien, who led the premiere of William Henry Frys Santa Claus: Christmas Symphony on Christmas Eve 1853. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the performing Arts via The New York Times.
by Douglas W. Shadle
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The premieres of new works by Olga Neuwirth and Sarah Kirkland Snider were among the most crushing losses of the canceled final months of the New York Philharmonics season this year. Cancellations are devastating, and musicians everywhere are feeling it, Snider said in an interview. Pressing pause on something this meaningful is hard. She and Neuwirth are part of Project 19, the Philharmonics initiative to commission pieces from female composers to mark the centennial of the 19th amendment, which brought women the right to vote. The project is an important step toward diversifying the orchestral repertoire, a steep challenge for a classical field largely glued ... More | | 
Comprising nearly 200 lots that included first editions, manuscripts, original art, sheet music, libretti, scripts, and much more, the comprehensive, albeit niche, collection elicited interest from Wodehouse aficionados worldwide.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Continuing its success with private collections and single-owner sales, Freemans achieved a 96% sell-through rate for its May 7 auction of The P.G. Wodehouse Collection of William Toplis. The house added this strong sell-through rate for a single-owner collection to its list of recent single-owner sale successes. Comprising nearly 200 lots that included first editions, manuscripts, original art, sheet music, libretti, scripts, and much more, the comprehensive, albeit niche, collection elicited interest from Wodehouse aficionados worldwide. As a result of a robust digital marketing campaign combined with direct outreach to Wodehouse societies and collectors around the globe, 40% of buyers in this auction were new to Freemans--a statistic that is ... More |
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| | Kovet.Art: A new artist incubator platform launches | | Galerie Templon reopens gallery space in Paris with exhibition of works by Billie Zangewa | | African-American fine art at auction June 4 with standout works from the last two centuries | 
Saras Rachupalli, Camilla Grimaldi and Averil Curci.
LONDON.- Kovet.Art a new artist incubator platform announces its launch and inaugural exhibition, Delineating Dreams, Wednesday 3 June at www.kovet.art Looking towards a future artworld ecosystem, Kovet.Art aims to uncover and accelerate the worlds best artistic talent and include as many as possible in their journey of discovery. Combining art market expertise with a rigorous development and artist liaison programme, Kovet.Art works to represent a closed number of top-class art degree students to develop their practice and profile in credible and authentic ways. Four seasonal shows each year, aligned with current trends, will enable any collector, anywhere, to discover and collect works from the artists making their mark, whilst, at the same time, becoming part of the vibrant Kovet community and members club (KLUB) through its talks, panels and inspiration boards. Predominantly an online platform, Kovet.Art ... More | | 
Billie Zangewa, At the end of the day, 2020. Soie brodée / Embroidered silk, 137 x 109 cm ; 53 7/8 x 42 7/8 in. © Courtesy Templon, Paris Brussels.
PARIS.- Galerie Templon is holding its first exhibition of work by Malawian artist Billie Zangewa. The South Africa-based artist has chosen to mark this special occasion with a message of hope and unity. Billie Zangewa's background is as an engaged artist. A golden-fingered embroiderer, she has gradually garnered recognition on the African and international art scene. Her autobiographical works skilfully combine personal experience with universal subjects, from the hustle and bustle of urban megalopolises to ordinary activities in the life of a woman and mother in today's world. Daily life thus serves as a pretext to engage in a political reflection on identity which insightfully challenges gender stereotypes and racial prejudices. The artist is now taking her work in a new direction, moving away from purely domestic scenes ... More | | 
David Hammons, Untitled, collage on board, 1965 (detail). Estimate $120,000 to $180,000.
NEW YORK, NY.- Swann Galleries is set to offer a sale of African-American Fine Art on Thursday, June 4 with works spanning from the nineteenth century through the modern era. The sale was postponed due to Covid-19 and will be held live online by the house. As the earliest work in the sale Edward M. Bannisters serene circa 1890-91 Rhode Island landscape Morning on the River, Providence, R.I., oil on canvas, will kick off the sale with an estimate of $25,000 to $35,000. Additional early works include a run of photographs by James Vanderzee. Most notably, a portfolio of eighteen mounted silver prints and sepia-toned photographs dating from 1905-1938 is expected to bring $40,000 to $60,000. Jacob Lawrences scarce Cutting Logs, #51, gouache, tempera and watercolor on paper, 1942 leads the auction by estimate. Lawrence intended to paint a series depicting the rural ... More |
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| | More News |
 Samson Young wins the inaugural Sigg PrizeHONG KONG.- M+, Hong Kongs museum of twentieth- and twenty-first-century visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District, announces Hong Kongbased artist Samson Young as the winner of the inaugural Sigg Prize. The jury was unanimously impressed by Youngs vivid, multifaceted approach to sound and performance, clearly articulated in his installation Muted Situations #22: Muted Tchaikovskys 5th, on view in the Sigg Prize 2019 exhibition alongside works by five other shortlisted artists at the M+ Pavilion until 17 May 2020. Youngs work presents an orchestral performance in which the musicians mute the notes they play, drawing the audiences attention to sounds that often go unnoticed. The Sigg Prize, established by M+ in Hong Kong in 2018, was formerly the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA), founded by Uli Sigg in China ... More Art leaders across Scotland speak out for the first time on the impact of Covid-19GLASGOW.- Scotlands world-renowned contemporary art scene is still serving communities across Scotland but fears for the future as the long-term impact of Covid-19 begins to bite. The Scottish Contemporary Art Network has revealed the findings of their Covid-19 Impact Survey. With galleries and production facilities closed, many staff furloughed and the likelihood that re-opening of cultural venues will be amongst the later stages of the exit strategy, the visual arts face enormous risk to the income streams that help support its work. In a survey conducted by Scottish Contemporary Art Network (SCAN) of those working in the visual art sector in Scotland, more than a third of individual art workers reported they had lost all their income in April when the full force of the Covid-19 epidemic hit. Over a third of art venues and production facilities surveyed ... More What do we lose when Cannes is canceled? NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The Cannes Film Festival has been derailed a handful of times since the inaugural edition was postponed because of World War II. For the most part, the show has gone on since 1946, but not this year. The 73rd iteration, scheduled to start May 12, is no more. Instead, in June, the festival will release a list of movies that had been chosen for this year, anointing them with the coveted Cannes label. Our critics Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott and our awards season columnist, Kyle Buchanan, all festival veterans, reflect on what makes this event so essential for movie lovers. KYLE BUCHANAN: So much for the victory lap. After a superlative 2019 edition of Cannes that launched Bong Joon Hos Parasite the first Palme dOr winner in 64 years to also take the best-picture Oscar expectations were sky high ... More Avangrid Foundation awards grant to Wadsworth Atheneum for restoration of sculpture on Main StreetHARTFORD, CONN.- The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art announced today that it has received a grant from the Avangrid Foundation to fund the restoration of Enoch Smith Woods's Nathan Hale (1889), the bronze figure displayed on the Main Street lawn of the museum. Avangrid's award of $50,000 will fund the conservation of the slightly-larger-than-life portrait of the Revolutionary War martyr, perhaps the first such intervention since its installation in front of the museum in 1894. The grant will also realize a plan to illuminate the restored sculpture. Nathan Hale is Connecticut's official state hero and a national patriotic symbol. Since no life portraits of him exist, Woods's bronze creatively memorializes Hale's youthful vigor and moral courage. The portrait shows twenty-one-year-old Nathan Hale approaching execution with his right hand ... More American Civil War pocket watch given by General Robert E. Lee to be sold at auctionLONDON.- An historically important presentation pocket watch, given to Wilmer McLean, who played a pivotal role in the American Civil War, will be offered for sale by International coins, medals, banknotes and jewellery specialists Dix Noonan Webb in a LIVE ONLINE AUCTION of Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu on Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at 1pm on their website. The American Watch Company presentation pocket watch is inscribed Wilmer McLean, In grateful appreciation of hospitality rendered to General Robert E. Lee, March 3rd 1866 and is estimated to fetch £1,000-2,000. Wilmer McLean (May 1814 June 1882) was a grocer from Virginia, who holds a unique position in the history of the American Civil War, while General Robert E. Lee (January 1807 October 1870) was one of the wars best-known commanders, who led the Army of Northern ... More Petzel Gallery opens an exhibition of works on paper by Sean LandersNEW YORK, NY.- Landers has been illuminating his not-so-private, stream-of-consciousness thoughts for 3 decades. He has consistently used language and humor, especially, across all media: drawing, painting, books, sculpture, sound and video. He intentionally pushes our buttons by self-consciously pushing his own. We chuckle nervously and snicker knowingly when we 'read' his paintings. If youre honest with yourself, his uncertainty is very close to your own. Clayton Press, Forbes. Works on paper are a central part of Sean Landerss practice, an artist who has long used text as a key element of both his process and output. Beginning in 1990, as a then emerging artist, Landers was the subject of a solo show titled Art, Life and God at Postmasters Gallery in New York. The exhibition, which laid much of the conceptual foundation for his work ... More The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh opens a 3D exhibition EDINBURGH.- Hong Kong and Yell: two halves of The Fine Art Societys first exhibition of drawings by Ron Sandford (b.1937). Island life from two geographically and culturally distinct and distant places are united in Rons appreciation of the commonplace or common place both richly detailed microcosms. Encouraged by Norman Foster to draw the newly built HSBC building in Hong Kong (completed 1985), Ron found himself in a city that presented the change of pace and scene he needed: a break from commissioned work in the UK, cheap living, low taxes and bountiful material. Upon meeting an ex-pupil, Meilo So who later became his wife he settled in Lamma, a small island off Hong Kong. A sort of paradise is how he described it. Living on the edge of pre-handover China and close to Macau, Ron was drawn to Chinese vernacular architecture. ... More The Brock family artist: A new discovery in Virginia folk portraitureMT. CRAWFORD, VA.- The recent discovery of the present group of Brock family watercolor miniature profile portraits sheds new light on an as-yet unidentified itinerant portraitist working during the first decades of the 19th century primarily in the northern piedmont region of the Virginia backcountry. The group will be offered for sale in the Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates Premier Americana Auction, June 26-27, 2020. We have already documented 20 works attributable to this hand, peaking interest in the identity of the artist and the lives of his sitters. In addition to the eight Brock Family portraits, there are at present four examples recorded in MESDAs object database by the artist and eight others in private collections, two of which were sold by JSE & Associates. While the artists identity remains unknown, the appearance of these ... More Heritage Auctions offers chance to score hoop on which Michael Jordan made iconic 'shot' in 1989DALLAS, TX.- The Shot, its called that and nothing more. Of all the famous buckets Michael Jordan sank, Sports Illustrated recently noted, only one of them is iconic enough to be known simply as The Shot. It happened on May 7, 1989. In the deciding Game 5 of the Eastern Conference playoffs. With barely two seconds left on the tick-tick-ticking game clock. And the Chicago Bulls down by one to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had bested the Bulls in each of their six contests that season. Jordan was then 26 years old, a rising star without a title to his name. Even that season would end in disappointment, with the Detroit Pistons banishing the Bulls from the playoffs (and Chicagos first conference finals in 14 years). But even in defeat, that moment when Jordan sank that buzzer-beating jumper over the outstretched arm of the Cavs ... More Low mileage 1950s classics from same Channel Island family come to sale with H&H ClassicsWARRINGTON.- H&H Classics will be offering a 1953 Bentley R-Type with rare James Young coachwork and a 1957 Sunbeam MKIII Sports Saloon as part of their next Live Auction Online sale on May 27th, both bought new by the same Channel Island family who kept them for three generations. Each car was first owned by Mrs Tottie Cooper of Jersey and remained on the island until 2017 when her granddaughter sold them to the vendor who subsequently recommissioned them following decades of dry storage. Due to their Channel Island residency both cars have covered just 18,000 miles from new with a letter on file from the granddaughter, who remembers being driven to school in the Sunbeam, attesting to their limited usage! Adding to the charm of these two beauties is the fact they are finished in similar liveries. The vast majority of Bentley ... More Hollywood Bowl cancels summer concerts due to virusLOS ANGELES (AFP).- The Hollywood Bowl scrapped its entire summer concert season Wednesday due to the coronavirus crisis, in a "devastating" move that leaves the Los Angeles Philharmonic with an $80 million shortfall. The famous open-air California venue has hosted acts from the Beatles to Yo-Yo Ma over nearly a century, and its concerts from June through September are a staple of Los Angeles cultural life. "We are all broken-hearted by the effects of this crisis and share the disappointment of all those who look forward to the Bowl" concerts, said Los Angeles Philharmonic Association CEO Chad Smith in a statement. It marks the first summer without concerts since the venue, known for its distinctive shell-shaped stage nestled in the Hollywood Hills, opened in 1922. Andrea Bocelli, Bob Dylan and Diana Ross were among the artists scheduled to perform ... More Ancient Resource Auctions announces highlights included in its May Exceptional Antiquities saleMONTROSE, CA.- An exceptionally well-preserved skull of an aurochs, an extinct species of wild cattle dating back 10,000-25,000 years, a gorgeous Etruscan terracotta female votive head from the 4th Century BC, and a lovely Apulian red-figure hydria from around the same period are a few expected top lots in Ancient Resource Auctions online-only Auction #84. The May Exceptional Antiquities Sale is already up and online for pre-bidding. It will go live on Saturday, May 30th at 9 am Pacific time and will continue throughout the day. Up for bid are close to 400 lots of authentic Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Near Eastern, Holy Land, Byzantine, Asian and Pre-Columbian antiquities, plus ethnographic art and a fine selection of rare fossils. All lots may be viewed and bid on now, via Ancient Resource Auctions bidding platform, at bid.AncientResourceAuctions.com, ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, English painter Thomas Gainsborough was baptised May 14, 1727. Thomas Gainsborough FRSA (14 May 1727 (baptised) - 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. He surpassed his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds to become the dominant British portraitist of the second half of the 18th century. In this image: Thomas Gainsborough (1727 - 1788), Holywells Park, um 1748 - 1750. Ãl auf Leinwand, 50,8 x 66 cm. Ipswich Museum and Gallery © Ipswich Museum and Gallery.
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