| The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Thursday, November 9, 2017 |
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| | Bloomberg SPACE brings Roman Temple of Mithras to life in new cultural experience | |
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An employee poses alongside a reconstruction of the Roman Temple of Mithras, recreated on the site of its original discovery, during a press preview at the London Mithraeum, Bloomberg SPACE, at the new Bloomberg headquarters in central London, on November 7, 2017. The third century reconstructed temple, sits seven meters below the City of London. Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP.
by Robin Millard
LONDON (AFP).- A Roman temple has been restored to its original site seven metres below the City of London, using sound, lights and misty haze to bring the ruin back to life. Built in the third century, the London Mithraeum was discovered by chance in 1954 on a World War II bomb site. It became an instant public sensation, with up to 30,000 people per day queueing to see it. The temple to the god Mithras was dismantled and reassembled 100 metres away from its original location so the public could see it when post-war rebuilding on the site was complete. But now the ruins have been moved back and restored, deep beneath Bloomberg's vast new European headquarters by the Bank of England. "London is a Roman city, yet there are few traces of its distant past that people can experience first-hand," said Sophie Jackson, the project's lead archaeological consultant. The reconstruction puts the temple back in place, as it looked at the end of the 1954 excavation. ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day French President Emmanuel Macron (C) and his wife Brigitte Macron look at a piece of art as they visit the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum on November 8, 2017 during its inauguration on Saadiyat island in the Emirati capital. ludovic MARIN / AFP
| 300-year-old porcelain cups sell for £1.9 million | | The Art Loss Register announces the recovery of a Matisse bronze sculpture | | UK student discovers 145 million-year-old 'rat' teeth | 
Famille-Rose Sanduo Cup. Courtesy Sothebys.
LONDON.- Today at Sothebys in London, a rare pair of exquisite famille-rose decorated cups from the Yongzheng period sold for £1.9 million ($2.5 million), the top lot in a sale of Important Chinese Art featuring a stunning selection of works of art spanning Chinas rich 4000-year history of remarkable craftsmanship. This unique pair of cups are masterpieces of the fencai (famille-rose) colour scheme. With the introduction of white enamel from Europe in the early 18th century, craftsmen working at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen developed a new palette and realised its full potential in the early years of the Yongzheng reign (1723-1735). These cups, painted with sophisticated shades of pastel tones to capture a sense of three-dimensionality, embody to perfection the refined aesthetic of the Yongzheng Emperor. The design, with sprays of fruiting pomegranate, peach and loquat, represents a variation of the auspicious ... More | | 
The sculpture was donated to a Swiss museum in 1978 and on display until it was snatched from its plinth by thieves in the early 1990s.
LONDON.- In 1906, the celebrated artist Henri Matisse created a bronze sculpture of his young daughter Marguerite, who was the subject of so many of his works. The piece is particularly interesting as it was made during the early years of his development in this medium. The sculpture was donated to a Swiss museum in 1978 and on display until it was snatched from its plinth by thieves in the early 1990s. The thieves had somehow broken into the building during a public holiday. The following day, the museum staff discovered the theft and immediately alerted the police. Despite considerable publicity, it was not possible to track down the stolen sculpture or arrest the thieves at the time. The museum filed a claim to their insurer, and the valuable sculpture was registered on the Art Loss Register database in the hope that ... More | | 
Dr Steve Sweetman, Grant Smith and Professor Dave Martill.
LONDON (AFP).- A student at a British university has uncovered teeth from rat-like creatures who lived 145 million years ago and have distant links to humans, a scientific journal reported Tuesday. The discovery was made on the coast of Dorset, southwest England, by undergraduate Grant Smith as he sifted through rocks at the University of Portsmouth. "Quite unexpectedly he found not one but two quite remarkable teeth of a type never before seen from rocks of this age," said Steve Sweetman, a research fellow at the university. "I was asked to look at them and give an opinion and even at first glance my jaw dropped!" he wrote in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. The teeth are believed to have belonged to two different species of small, furry creatures which were probably nocturnal and survived on insects and perhaps plants. "The teeth are of a highly advanced ... More |
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| Tate Modern exhibition offers a visual history of Russia and the Soviet Union from 1905-55 | | Austria Auction Company to hold second Tribal Art auction | | Nelson-Atkins announces acquisition of 800 photographs thanks to $10M gift from Hall Family Foundation | 
Nina Vatolina (1915 2002), Don't Chatter! Gossiping Borders on Treason, 1941. Lithograph on paper, 604 x 444mm. Purchased 2016. The David King Collection at Tate.
LONDON.- To mark the centenary of the October Revolution, this autumn Tate Modern presents Red Star over Russia: A Revolution in Visual Culture 1905 55. Drawn from the remarkable collection of the late graphic designer David King (1943 - 2016) the exhibition offers a visual history of Russia and the Soviet Union. From the overthrow of the last Tsar and the revolutionary uprisings of 1917, through to the struggles of the Civil War and Stalins campaign of terror, the show reveals how seismic political events led to the social transformation that inspired a wave of innovation in art and graphic design across the country. Throughout his lifetime David King assembled one of the most comprehensive collections of Russian and Soviet material in the world, consisting of over a quarter of a million artefacts by famous ... More | | 
Lwalwa mask, estimated price 8,000 12,000 © AAC.
VIENNA.- Austria Auction Company is extending an invitation to its Tribal Art 2 auction being held on November 18, 2017, at the baroque Palais Breuner in Viennas first district. The auction will feature a unique collection never before seen in Austria with a focus on Central Africa, Indonesia, and Oceania. 180 pieces of outstanding quality will be elegantly showcased in around 500 m2 of exhibition space and auctioned off on November 18, 2017. The mysticism of these works ― often considered to be the pinnacle of art collecting ― is overpowering, and it is hard not to find them fascinating, says AAC Managing Director Udo Langauer. The pieces of tribal art by anonymous artists from various ethnic groups include numerous museum-quality works from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries ― all with a religious and mystical background. One such example is a royal ceremonial Luba Caryatid Stool from ... More | | 
Diane Arbus, American (19231971). Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, NYC, 1962. Gelatin silver print (printed 1973), 14 7/16 Ã 14 3/8 inches. Gift of the Hall Family Foundation, 2017.24.1.
KANSAS CITY, MO.- The Hall Family Foundation, in continuing its long support of the photography program at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, made a special $10 million grant to broaden and deepen this collection. Recognized around the world, this is one of the finest museum photography collections in the nation. The gift permitted a more intensive acquisition focus from 2015 to 2017. About 100 of the more than 800 newly acquired photographs will be on view in a Spring 2018 exhibition, The Big Picture: A Transformative Gift from the Hall Family Foundation, to coincide with the Foundations 75th anniversary. The generous and steadfast support of the Nelson-Atkins by the Hall Family Foundation is the reason our photography collection is world-renowned, said Julián Zugazagoitia, Menefee D. and ... More |
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| Christie's to offer the first map to name America | | Exhibition of works on paper from 1955-1967 by Richard Diebenkorn opens at Van Doren Waxter | | Paul Kasmin Gallery opens a solo exhibition of paintings by Lee Krasner | 
Martin Waldseemüller (c.1470 - c.1522), World map in the form of a set of gores for a terrestrial globe. Saint-Dié-des-Vosges: 1507 (detail). Estimate: £600,000 900,000 / $800,000 1,200,000. © Christies Images Limited 2017.
On 13 December Christies Valuable Books and Manuscripts sale will offer a copy of the first map to name America by the most important cartographer of the early sixteenth century, Martin Waldseemüller. The appearance of this previously unknown copy of the Waldseemüller gores (estimate: £600,000 900,000 / $800,000 1,200,000), 1507, marks a significant cartographic discovery. This revolutionary map not only names America for the first time, but is also the first map to illustrate separate South and North American continents, and is the earliest recorded printed globe. It is one of only 5 known copies and is the first accurate illustration of the world in 360 degrees, depicting a separate Pacific Ocean. A large wall map, produced by Waldseemüller around the same time, and also naming America, survives in a single copy and was acquired by the Library of Congress ... More | | 
Richard Diebenkorn, Untitled (CR no. 2811), c. 1960-67. Charcoal, watercolor, and graphite on paper, 17 x 14 inches (43.2 x 35.6 cm). Courtesy of the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation and Van Doren Waxter.
NEW YORK, NY.- Van Doren Waxter presents an exhibition of works on paper from 1955 1967 by Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993). Organized in cooperation with the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation, Richard Diebenkorn: Works on Paper, 1955 1967 features twenty-seven works, most of which are exhibited here for the first time. The presentation is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog, with an introductory essay by Rachel Federman, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawings at The Morgan Library & Museum. Living in Berkeley, CA in 1955, Diebenkorn began working figuratively, drawing from the model, painting still lifes, landscapes and interiors, much to the surprise of those who were familiar with his earlier Berkeley series of Abstract Expressionist paintings leading up to that point. Diebenkorns early works from ... More | | 
Lee Krasner, Fecundity, 1960. Oil on canvas, 87 3/8 x 70 1/2 inches, 221.9 x 179.1 cm. © 2017 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery.
NEW YORK, NY.- Paul Kasmin Gallery, in collaboration with the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, announces an inaugural solo exhibition of paintings by Lee Krasner, which will focus on her iconic Umber Paintings. The series consists of only twenty-four paintings, eight of which are held in major institutional collections. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated and comprehensive catalogue raisonné on the series with an essay by art historian Dr. David Anfam, Senior Consulting Curator of the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver and curator of the recent exhibition Abstract Expressionism at the Royal Academy, London. Painted between 1959 and 1962, Krasners Umber Paintings were realized during one of her most ambitious periods of creative production following the sudden and tragic loss of her husband, Jackson Pollock. During this time of newfound solitude, Krasner moved into Pollocks studio at their home ... More |
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| Rihanna, Amal and Donatella named Met Gala 2018 hosts | | New display at the British Museum examines the relationship between conflict and art | | Animals: Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg opens new exhibition | 
This file photo taken on September 14, 2017 shows Rihanna. ANGELA WEISS / AFP.
NEW YORK (AFP).- It's the most sought after invitation in the celebrity universe -- and on Wednesday, Amal Clooney, Rihanna and Donatella Versace were named co-chairs of next year's glittering Met Gala in New York. Held every year on the first Monday in May, the black-tie extravaganza is the chief source of income for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, reportedly raising more than $13 million in 2016. Tickets are said to cost $30,000 each or $275,000 for a table, ruling out all but the most elite coterie of A-list Hollywood actors, best-selling music superstars, top models and fashion designers. Clooney -- the British-Lebanese wife of Hollywood heartthrob George and new mother of twins -- is the 39-year-old feted as much for her fashion sense as her work as an international human rights lawyer. Rihanna, 29, needs no introduction as one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, also lauded for her bold style, and Versace is the ... More | | 
Battlefield palette About 33003100 BC © the Trustees of the British Museum.
LONDON.- Documenting history through art is a longstanding tradition, and the Britishs Museum new Asahi Shimbun Display examines the relationship between conflict and art in a focussed way, through four specially chosen objects. The Asahi Shimbun Display On violence and beauty: reflections on war includes objects from 5,000 years ago to the present day. The British Museums first acquisition of a video artwork by the Iranian artist Farideh Lashai (d. 2013) is also on display. The video installation offers a contemporary perspective on Goyas iconic work The Disasters of War which he made between 1810 and 1820 in response to the Peninsular War. The British Museum recently loaned this work to the Prado Museum where, as The invited work, it was placed in juxtaposition with paintings and etchings by Goya. The display begins with some of the oldest representations of war from Greece, Egypt and Mesopotamia & ... More | | 
Tethart Philipp Christian Haag, Orang Utan, eating strawberries, 1776, oil on canvas, 109 x 89 cm, Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ullrich-Museum, Kunstmuseum des Landes Niedersachsen.
HAMBURG.- Animals are a frequent subject of debate these days. Do they have a soul? How much do they suffer? Are we under any obligation to protect their individuality by granting them rights? Are human beings morally authorized to do as they want with animals, to consume them, rob them of their freedom and train them for the purposes of entertainment? Scientific discussion takes the relationship between animal and human being very seriously. In the everyday life of our consumption-oriented society, on the other hand, that relationship oscillates between unreflecting exploitation and sentimental anthropomorphization. Against the background of these contrasts, the exhibition ANIMALS at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg has been geared primarily towards informing visitors and sensitizing them to ways and means of respectful co-existence. ... More |
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Scientists discover remains of 30,000 Year Old Condor in Argentina
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 Exhibition of recent works by Austrian artist Thomas Baumann opens at Galerie Nicolas KruppBASEL.- The solo presentation at Galerie Nicolas Krupp by Austrian artist Thomas Baumann combines recent works from his sculptures and paintings in a complex arrangement. Rooted in his training under Bruno Gironcoli, Baumann's approach is marked by a deep engagement with materials as well as a profound knowledge of, the development of and application of a range of technical tools. Automatisation, kinetics and programming languages are as suitable raw materials for Baumann as the medium of painting itself. Harald Krejci, Curator of the Belvedere in Vienna: "The status quo in Baumann's works often forces one to challenge the technology with regard to its political, social and societal use or abuse. For his art, the use of technology is a means of experimentally casting into question the tools of artistic production a brush being a form of technology ... More Exhibition of drawings by George Condo spanning four decades opens at Louisiana Museum of Modern ArtHUMLEBAEK.- The American artist George Condo (b. 1957) has not been shown in Scandinavia, so his drawings from four decades present a unique opportunity to get to previously know this original artist. The artist is a classic in his own country and has recently had major museum exhibitions in London, Rotterdam, Paris and most recently in Berlin. Throughout the years Condo has challenged the idea that the drawing is secondary to the painting. While it would be wrong to say that Condo is not also a painter, his works on paper form such a high-profile part of his production that this, Louisianas introduction to his art from 1974 until the present day, involves a good 130 works and 223 sketchbooks on paper. In all his artistic life Condo has had an active relationship with historical formats and individual figures from the history of art: Picasso more than anyone else, ... More Jean Nouvel: From napkin sketch to Abu Dhabi's architectural triumphPARIS (AFP).- The Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened its doors on Wednesday, started life as a simple sketch on a restaurant napkin, says French architect Jean Nouvel. It is a welcome triumph for Nouvel, who admits he is still smarting from a controversy surrounding the iconic Philharmonie de Paris. He refused to attend the 2015 opening of the Paris building, which is now deemed a massive success, but he is much happier about the new cultural highlight in the United Arab Emirates. That napkin sketch he drew in 2006 eventually became what has been hailed by the media as a masterpiece, the "Louvre of the Sands". The Abu Dhabi building, the first to the carry the famed Louvre brand outside of France, has echoes of the now-famous pyramid outside the Paris art museum. "When Tom Krens (former director of the Guggenheim Foundation in New York) spoke ... More Fotofever paris 2017: 6th annual contemporary photography fair opensPARIS.- fotofever will be welcoming collectors to the Carrousel du Louvre from 10 to 12 November for our 6th annual fair featuring 150 emerging artists and 80 galleries from France and abroad. Last years fair was a public, commercial and critical success, confirming fotofevers position as the leading art event dedicated to collecting contemporary photography. True to our roots, fotofever continues to showcase the diversity of contemporary photography and encourage collectors, young and confirmed, to give it their attention. The many visitors to the 2016 fair loved the flowing zig-zag floor plan so weve brought it back for this years show. Its a unique setting which optimizes visibility for both the exhibitors and the artworks. 70% are returning exhibitors and 30% are new galleries at fotofever paris 2017. 60% are international galleries and some are first-timers including, in particular, Australias ... More Exhibition of photographs and recent sculpture by Mary Frank opens at DC Moore GalleryNEW YORK, NY.- DC Moore Gallery announces Mary Frank Pilgrimage: Photographs and Recent Sculpture, opening on November 9 and running through December 22, 2017. This exhibition will include 60 recent photographs and a premier presentation of Mary Franks recent sculptural constructions of stone and paint. The exhibition will coincide with the publication, Pilgrimage: Photographs of Mary Frank (Eakins Press Foundation) with texts by the poet and critic John Yau, and the environmental activist and author, Terry Tempest Williams. This exhibition presents, for the first time, a broad selection of the composed photographs that have been Franks creative focus for the last ten years. Frank taps into the creative potential of elemental objects using collage, painting, sculpture and drawing. With assemblages of stone, charred wood, ice, ... More Superbugs take over the Science MuseumLONDON.- We share our world with bacteria. Trillions live on and inside you, and although many are harmless they can also cause infection and death. Thanks to antibiotics, millions of people each year are cured of previously untreatable bacterial diseases. But bacteria have fought back, evolving into superbugs resistant to antibiotics. Opening on 9 November 2017, Superbugs: The Fight For Our Lives explores humanitys response to the unprecedented global threat of antibiotic resistance. Today superbugs kill almost 700,000 people a year globally and by 2050 this could rise to 10 million. Examining antibiotic resistance at the microscopic, human and global scale, this exhibition features remarkable scientific discoveries from across the globe and reveals the personal stories of those waging war on superbugs. Visitors will glimpse twelve real bacteria ... More Pavel Zoubok Gallery opens a solo exhibition of new work by Austin-based artist Lance LetscherNEW YORK, NY.- Pavel Zoubok Gallery announces a solo exhibition of new work by Austin-based artist Lance Letscher, celebrating the national release of the feature-length documentary The Secret Life of Lance Letscher, directed by Oscar-nominated Sandra Adair and produced by Kristi Frazier. Both the film and exhibition reflect on the artists journey into the creative process and very nature of collage, a medium that for Letscher represents both a personal aesthetic, and a language with which to find structure, beauty and serenity within chaos. We discern in both a rigorous attention to the character and form of his materials, as well as a profound engagement with memory. Letschers is an art equally rooted in story telling and painterly concerns about surface quality, color and balance. In the film, he explains: Its not a premeditated decision to pursue ... More The Whitney opens first U.S. retrospective of Jimmie DurhamNEW YORK, NY.- The Whitney Museum of American Art is hosting the first North American retrospective of artist, performer, poet, essayist, and activist Jimmie Durham (b. 1940), one of the most compelling and multifaceted figures working internationally today. On view from November 3, 2017, to January 28, 2018, Jimmie Durham: At the Center of the World features approximately 120 works from 1970 to the present, including sculpture, drawing, collage, printmaking, photography, and video. Durham has, over the past nearly five decades, produced wryly political art, often raising questions about authenticity and making visible the ongoing repercussions of colonialism, both within the U.S. and globally. Frequently working with a combination of natural and found materials, he approaches his subjects with a poetic wit and a potent blend of irony and insight. The ... More Library examines the Russian Revolution in new commemorative display for 100th anniversaryNEW YORK, NY.- The revolution that shaped the twentieth century is the subject of a new commemorative display titled The Russian Revolution: American Perspectives at The New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Curated by Susan Smith-Peter, Associate Professor of History at the College of Staten Island, the exhibition honors the 100th anniversary of the November revolution that transformed Russia into the former Soviet Union. Featuring photographs and other printed material from the Librarys archives, the display chronicles the American experience of the uprising. It is on display at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue in the McGraw Rotunda on the third floor November 8 through November 19. The creation of the Soviet Union was an important moment in history that not only affected the Russian way ... More Newly opened Louvre Abu Dhabi a 'bridge between civilisations'ABU DHABI (AFP).- More than a decade in the making, the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened its doors Wednesday, winning praise from visiting French President Emmanuel Macron as a "bridge between civilisations" and religions. On his first official visit to the Middle East, Macron and his wife Brigitte were greeted at the museum by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashed al-Maktoum. Macron, who is also scheduled to hold talks with Emirati officials, toured the 12-gallery museum -- the first to carry the famed Louvre brand outside France -- shortly after touching down in Abu Dhabi, along with the heads of state of Morocco and Afghanistan. The new museum was a "bridge between civilisations", he said at the opening. "Those who seek to say that Islam is the destruction of other religions are liars." Macron said the museum ... More New York jury says developer illegally destroyed graffitiNEW YORK (AFP).- A New York jury has decided that a developer broke US federal law by whitewashing over and demolishing works of graffiti art, recommending that he pay damages. The groundbreaking verdict was rendered Tuesday following a three-week trial in a case that pitted 21 artists from the former 5Pointz graffiti site in Queens against the wealthy developer who owned the property. For 20 years developer Jerry Wolkoff invited taggers to showcase their art on the industrial complex he owned, making it -- in the words of the artists' lawyer -- the "world's largest outdoor open aerosol museum." But in 2014 Wolkoff demolished the site, after whitewashing the art, making way for a planned $400 million luxury residential complex. The artists sued him for damages, arguing that they should have been given more opportunity to salvage their work before the wrecking ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, Swiss photographer Robert Frank was born November 09, 1924. Robert Frank (born November 9, 1924, Zürich), is an important figure in American photography and film. His most notable work, the 1958 photobook titled The Americans, was influential, and earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his fresh and skeptical outsider's view of American society. Frank later expanded into film and video and experimented with manipulating photographs and photomontage. In this image: Swiss minister for culture Pascal Couchepin talks as he visits an exhibition of Swiss born photographer Robert Frank at London's Tate Modern Gallery Tuesday Oct. 26, 2004.
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