| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Thursday, October 6, 2022 |
| | Paid to fight, even in ancient Greece | |
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A photo provided by Stefano Vassallo shows excavations at Himeras western necropolis in Sicily. DNA from a 2,500-year-old battlefield in Sicily reveals that mercenary soldiers were common, if not the Homeric ideal. Stefano Vassallo via The New York Times.
by Franz Lidz
NEW YORK, NY.- Wherever there is an out-of-the-way war, there will be mercenaries hired fighters whose only common bond may be a hunger for adventure. Some join foreign armies or rebel forces because they believe in the cause; others sign on because the price is right. This was true in ancient Greece, although you wouldnt know it from ancient Greek historians, for whom the polis, or independent Greek city-state, symbolized the demise of kingly oppression and the rise of citizen equality and civic pride. For instance, neither Herodotus nor Diodorus Siculus mentioned mercenaries in their reports of the first Battle of Himera, a fierce struggle in 480 B.C. in which the Greeks from various Sicilian cities united to beat back a Carthaginian invasion. Mercenaries were considered the antithesis of the Homeric hero. Being a wage earner had some negative connotations avarice, corruption, shifting allegiance, the downfall of civilized society, said Laurie Reitsema, an anthropolo ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Nancy Ford Cones created photographs that earned her an international reputation and recognition in prestigious journals such as Camera Craft, as well as popular outlets including National Geographic magazine and Kodak advertisements. Despite the praise her works received during her lifetime, Conesâs imaginative and exquisitely crafted photographs were largely forgotten after her death. The Taft Museum of Artâs special exhibition, Craft and Camera: The Art of Nancy Ford Cones (October 1, 2022-January 15, 2023) is the first major presentation of her work.
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| Lark Mason Associates announces Fall Asian Art Sale | | Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Pantin opens an exhibition of works by Miquel Barceló | | The exhibitions Christer Strömholm and Giorgio Vasari's Drawings open at Nationalmuseum | 
Portrait of Merchant Howqua, School of Lamqua (Chinese 1801-1860), (Estimate: $30,000/50,000).
NEW YORK, NY.- Lark Mason Associates is pleased to announce that the first part of their fall sale of Asian, Ancient, and Ethnographic Works of Art opens for bidding on October 6th to 25th on iGavelAuctions.com. Over 500 lots from China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia represent a range of categories, including fifty Chinese archaic jades from the property of Sam and Myrna Myers, the renowned Parisian dealer and collector, who gifted the Musée Guimet. Several of these pieces have been exhibited at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, the Pointe-A-Calliere Museum, in Montreal, the Fondation Baur Musee des Arts D'Extreme-Orient, in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Asian Art Museum in Nice, France. Among the archaic jades are a Chinese Brown Jade Huang with Dragon Head Terminals (Estimate: $30,000/50,000); a Yellow Chinese Jade Dragon Pendant (Estimate: ... More | | 
Miquel Barceló, 2020. Photo: François Halard.
PARIS.- Grisailles is an exhibition of new paintings by Mallorcan artist Miquel Barceló, featuring his most recent series of still lifes. It will take place across the gallerys expansive Pantin space. Miquel Barcelós practice is influenced by his Mallorcan surroundings, as well as his profound knowledge of the history of art. His new series of still lifes is rendered in planes of pink, red, yellow or grey, with white accents, in a variation on the art historical tradition of grisaille painting. Behind the paint, the canvas is still visible, resulting in works that are airier and more loosely composed than the artists previous paintings of still lifes. Influenced by 17th-century Dutch painting and the Spanish bogedón genre, the life-size diagonal tables that intersect the paintings seem to invite viewers to take part in the banquet laid out by the artist. Among the objects and creatures on offer can be found a number of highl ... More | | 
Luca Signorelli, Head of Saint John the Baptist, c. 1483-84. Black and white chalk, traces of red chalk on paper. Pricked for transfer. Nationalmuseum.
STOCKHOLM.- This autumn brings two separate exhibitions with one entrance and ticket at Nationalmuseum. One part of the gallery shows Christer Strömholms photographs taken in Paris and the other part drawings from the legendary collection owned by the artist Giorgio Vasari. The exhibitions open on 6 October. Long considered one of the most significant Swedish photographers, Christer Strömholm is among the few to have achieved widespread international recognition. The exhibition includes around 200 photographs taken in Paris in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, mostly portraits of artists and leading cultural figures but also some unfamiliar images of contemporary Paris. The portraits were taken during the years that Strömholm lived and worked in Paris, where he collaborated with Pontus Hultén and Lasse ... More |
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| Boijmans makes biggest ever acquisition, 'Greatest Surrealist of us all' added to Dutch cultural heritage | | World record for important tall bottle vase with disc by Hans Coper at Bonhams Design sale | | Important 18th century map of California highlights Bonhams Exploration and Travel sale | 
Peinture-poème (Musique, Seine, Michel, Bataille et moi)', 1927, Joan Miró, (born April 20, 1893, Barcelona, Spaindied December 25, 1983, Palma, Majorca), Collectie Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Credits: Studio Tromp
ROTTERDAM.- State Secretary Uslu unveils a new jewel in the crown of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningens collection - a painting by Joan Miró. Rotterdam-based Boijmans, whose Surrealist collection is unparalleled in the Netherlands, was able to acquire the work thanks to unprecedented support from funds and donors. An early painting by the legendary Spanish painter Joan Miró has entered Museum Boijmans Van Beuningens collection. It is the museums most expensive purchase ever. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is most grateful to the Rembrandt Association, the Mondriaan Fonds and the dozens of funds and donors involved for their contributions, which have enabled the work to join the collection in Rotterdam, and in so doing Dutch public art holdings, too. André Breton, the founder of Surrealism, described Miró ... More | | 
Tall bottle vase with disc by Hans Coper. Sold for £655,500 (estimate: £80,000 -100,000). Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- Tall bottle vase with disc, a rare and important piece by the Austrian-born British ceramicist Hans Coper, set a new world auction record for the artist when it sold for £655,500 at Bonhams Design sale in London on 4 October. Made circa 1968, the work had been estimated at £80,000-120,000. Marcus McDonald, Bonhams Director of 20th Century Design said: Coper is one of the great names of 20th British ceramics. This very rare vase was a true masterpiece, and I am not surprised that there was such keen bidding in the room, on the phones and over the internet with the exciting outcome of a new world auction record for a work by Coper. Other highlights included: Important and rare adjustable table lamp, model no. M 284, 1904 by Joseph Hoffmann. Executed by the Wiener Werkstätte, Vienna, Austria. The lamp was produced a year after the Wiener Werkstätte was founded, in 1903, and has an extreme form of ... More | | 
The most important 18th century map of California, estimated at $600,000 800,000. Photo: Bonhams.
NEW YORK, NY.- On October 25, Bonhams will present the most important 18th century map of California as the highlight of its Exploration and Travel Literature, featuring Americana sale in New York. Estimated at $600,000 800,000, the extraordinarily rare, original manuscript map of costal California is signed by Miguel de Costansó (1741-1814), a Catalan cartographer, cosmographer, and engineer for the Portola Expedition who created the map, and dated Mexico, October 30, 1770. It is the first map to depict San Francisco Bay and marks the beginning of the Spanish settlement in the state. The map exists in three versions: an early version in manuscript, not showing San Francisco Bay, this version in manuscript, and the 1771 printed map produced in Spain from this version. An incredible selection of Americana also highlights the sale including a subpoena for then President Thomas Jefferson, the first to be issued to a sitting president, to produc ... More |
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| New home announced for Fashion Museum Bath | | Major survey of Israeli artist Sigalit Landau explores artist's engagement with the Dead Sea over two decades | | Frist Art Museum presents extraordinary and rarely seen textiles from renowned collection of Asian art | 
The internationally important Fashion Museum, Bath will be moving to a new location at the Old Post Office in the centre of Bath.
BATH.- The internationally important Fashion Museum, Bath will be moving to a new location at the Old Post Office in the centre of Bath. It will also create a new Fashion Collection Archive in Locksbrook, to the west of the city centre, to house the collection. The aim is for the Museum and Fashion Collection Archive to open in three to eight years time, dependent on fundraising. To help deliver the project, Bath & North East Somerset Council has submitted a £20 million bid the UK Governments Levelling Up Fund, to help complete the £37 million project. The project will boost the visitor economy of the region and create jobs and opportunities for local and regional people. The council has also received a £2.4 million grant from the West of England Combined Authority, which will contribute towards the regeneration of the Milsom Quarter, including the opening of the new Fashion Museum. Councillor Kevin Guy, Leader of Bath & Nort ... More | | 
Sigalit Landau, Jaffa Oranges, 2021, 109 x 148x 39 cm, fishing net coated in salt crystals. Photo: Yotam From © Sigalit Landau.
JERUSALEM.- For the past 20 years, Israeli artist Sigalit Landau has developed a pioneering practice centered around the Dead Sea, a mythical, ecological, and historically charged landscape that has had a profound influence on the artist since childhood. Sigalit Landau: The Burning Sea at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem illuminates this prolific period in Landaus career, spanning a fascinating range of sculptures, installations, video works, and photographs, including the premiere of new works and sculptures from the artists acclaimed series of objects transformed by the Dead Seas salt-rich waters. The exhibition is on view October 6, 2022 through June 17, 2023. "The Burning Sea represents a homecoming for Sigalit, who in 1995, became one of the youngest artists to ever have a solo exhibition at The Israel Museum,' said Denis Weil, the Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. ... More | | 
Japan, Edo period (16151868). Bugaku Costume (Hō-type), first half of the 19th century. Silk gauze embroidered with silk thread; 124 x 77 1/2 in. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 31-142/4
NASHVILLE, TENN.- The Frist Art Museum presents Weaving Splendor: Treasures of Asian Textiles from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, an exhibition of Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Persian, and Turkish textiles drawn from one of the most significant collections of Asian art in the United States. Organized by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, the exhibition will be on view in the Frists Ingram Gallery from October 7 through December 31, 2022. Made with precious materials, innovative techniques, and stunning artistry, Asian textiles have been integral to global trade for centuries. Whether woven from cotton, linen, silk, or wool, each textile in Weaving Splendor tells a complex and fascinating story that leads guests on a journey along trade routes across continents, and through time, from the 15th ... More |
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| High Museum of Art opens first museum survey for Deana Lawson | | Spectacular Claude de Marteau Collection Part II sells for £2.5 million at Bonhams | | 'This Golden Mile' by Kavi Pujara exhibited at Martin Parr Foundation | 
Deana Lawson (American, born 1979), Roxie and Raquel New Orleans, Louisiana, 2010, pigment print, courtesy of the artist; Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York; and David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles. © Deana Lawson.
ATLANTA, GA.- This fall, the High Museum of Art presents the first museum survey dedicated to Deana Lawson, who is known for investigating and challenging conventional representations of Black identities and bodies through her photographs. Co-organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston and MoMA PS1, Deana Lawson (Oct. 7, 2022-Feb. 19, 2023) features nearly 60 works made over the past two decades that evoke a range of histories and photographic styles, including family albums, studio portraiture and staged tableaux, and employ documentary pictures and appropriated images. Lawsons works, which are complex not only in their composition but also in the emotions they evoke, challenge us to think critically about Black ... More | | 
A spectacular gilt copper alloy figure of Chakrasamvara, Tibet, 17th century, demonstrating a sophisticated quality of craftsmanship and in perfect condition, achieved 491,775, doubling its pre-sale estimate. Photo: BOnhams.
LONDON.- The sale of the Part II of the Claude de Marteau Collection, held in Paris yesterday (4 October 2022) at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr demonstrated once again how rare and important this collection was, focusing on the finest Himalayan art and a series of spectacular Buddhist statues from the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. The 56-lot sale, representing a broad range of styles from the 14th to 19th centuries, achieved a total of more 2,5 million with 93% of lots sold. A spectacular gilt copper alloy figure of Chakrasamvara, Tibet, 17th century, demonstrating a sophisticated quality of craftsmanship and in perfect condition, achieved 491,775, doubling its pre-sale estimate. This statue comes ... More | | 
Book: Published by Setanta Books, October 2022.
BRISTOL.- Kavi Pujara began to photograph the neighbourhood around Leicesters Golden Mile as a way to reconnect with the city, its residents and his own past after 30 years of living in London. The resulting images form This Golden Mile which will be exhibited at Martin Parr Foundation in October to coincide with a book of the project published by Setanta Books. This Golden Mile is not about the one-mile stretch of Melton Road that turns into Belgrave Road with its sari shops, Indian restaurants and jewellers. Its about the arteries and veins that come from it, giving life to the parts of the neighbourhood away from the central commercial thoroughfare. This Golden Mile exists in the poetry of homes, temples and street corners; its down the alleys and through the gaps in steel fencing leading to crumbling industrial plots. This Golden Mile is both an entry point and an ending, the last mile of a long journey ... More |
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 Theo Richmond, who revived the past in a Polish shtetl, dies at 93NEW YORK, NY.- Theo Richmond, a British documentary filmmaker who depended on words rather than images to create what he called the most worthwhile thing Ive ever done an acclaimed book, Konin: A Quest, that captured the quotidian life and precipitous death of the Jewish population of his parents hometown in Poland after the Nazi invasion died Aug. 25 in London. He was 93. His death, at his home in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, was confirmed by his wife, novelist Lee Langley. Over the course of seven years, Richmond conducted some 400 interviews in Poland, Israel, Florida, Nebraska, Texas, Montreal and New York, racing against time to collect memories from former residents of Konin, a village 140 miles west of Warsaw near the German border. In 1939, about 3,000 of its 13,000 residents were Jewish. By 1940, according ... More  Designed & hand-blocked by the Folly Cove Designers opens at Cape Ann MuseumGLOUCESTER, MASS.- In early October, the Cape Ann Museum will open a new and expanded exhibition on the acclaimed Folly Cove Designers, made world famous by their leader, designer and author Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios. The exhibit draws from the Museums own collection as well as from other repositories in the region and private collections. The exhibition, Designed & Hand-Blocked by the Folly Cove Designers, will explore the origins of the internationally known group and their unique place in the American Arts & Crafts movement during the first half of the 20th century. It will also spotlight the accomplishments of individual designers and the legacy of the group. The exhibit opens on October 8 and will remain on display through March 19, 2023. Of the renowned artists who created lasting Cape Ann legacies, the Folly Cove Designers ... More  Exhibition features portraits depicting judges who graduated from Boston University School of LawBOSTON.- Three portraits by painter Timothy J. Clark, that were commissioned by Boston University School of Law to honor graduates who ascended to the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, were unveiled at a ceremony on campus in Barristers Hall, on Saturday, October 1st. Clark created the portraits, of BU Law alumni Sandra Lynch (71), O. Rogeriee Thompson (76), and the late Juan R. Torruella (57), using a highly-personalized technique that he developed for an exhibition of portraits presented earlier this year at Howard University Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Using oversized archival laid-finish paper and permanent watercolor pigments, Clark drew and painted from sittings with Judge Thompson, and Judge Lynch, and he worked from family members posing in the judicial robes of the late Judge Torruella. Together with BU ... More  Da'Vine Joy Randolph doesn't want anyone finishing her sentencesNEW YORK, NY.- Please forgive DaVine Joy Randolph if she needs to stifle the occasional yawn. When she hopped on a video interview in late September, the omnipresent, extremely busy and still slightly jet-lagged actress had only just returned from Colombia, where she was filming Shadow Force, an action movie for director Joe Carnahan. Despite the exotic locale and a fulfilling work experience, the otherwise upbeat Randolph emphasized that she was happy to be back on her home turf in Los Angeles. Even on a vacation, she said, after the two-week mark, no matter how amazing the vacation is, youre like, Im ready. Randolph, 36, has been on a relentless professional pace for more than a decade now, playing a range of memorable roles in theater, film and television. She recently co-starred in the drama On the ... More  Charles Fuller, Pulitzer winner for 'A Soldier's Play,' dies at 83NEW YORK, NY.- Charles Fuller, who won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1982 for A Soldiers Play, which finally made it to Broadway 38 years later, in a production that earned two Tony Awards, died Monday in Toronto. He was 83. His wife, Claire Prieto-Fuller, confirmed the death. Fuller was only the second Black playwright to win the Pulitzer for drama. (Charles Edward Gordone won in 1970 for No Place to Be Somebody.) His plays often examined racism and sometimes drew on his background as an Army veteran. Both of those elements were evident in A Soldiers Play, which was Fullers reimagining of Herman Melvilles Billy Budd and centered on the murder of a Black Army sergeant and the search for the culprit. The play was first staged in 1981 by the Negro Ensemble Company in New York with a cast that included Denzel ... More  Artist Stephanie Syjuco finds new meaning in Wadsworth Atheneum collections in MATRIX 190HARTFORD, CONN.- Artist Stephanie Syjuco explores Americas early history and the creation of its national identity in the new installation MATRIX 190 / Image Trafficking opening at the Wadsworth on October 7, and which will continue through to January 8, 2032. Immersive photographic works investigate mythical ideas of America as depicted in some of the museums best-known Hudson River School paintings, collected by Daniel Wadsworth as contemporary art while the artists were living. MATRIX 190 / Image Trafficking considers how ideas about American nationhood and identity have shifted since Thomas Cole, Alfred Bierstadt, and other noted 19th century artists painted the American landscape. Syjuco worked with several of the Wadsworths departments tasked with the administration and care of its collection. The artist assessed analog ... More  LnS Gallery opens solo exhibition by Jennifer BasileMIAMI, FLA.- LnS Gallery is currently presenting the solo exhibition Lasting Impressions: A Cessation of Existence by Jennifer Basile, which will continue through to November 19, 2022. The works in this exhibition capture moments in time of Floridas Everglades and are a fusion of the artists innovative process and passion for the magical, fragile beauty of the unique ecosystem. A master printmaker, this is Basiles second solo exhibition at LnS Gallery featuring works created in 2021 and 2022, derived from numerous trips to Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Lasting Impressions: A Cessation of Existence is in view now at LnS Gallery located at 2610 SW 28th Lane, Miami, FL, through November 19, 2022. My message is simple, to capture the environment in all of its pure and natural beauty, ... More  The Drawing Room presents 'Weaving the Unraveled: New tapestries by Laurie Lambrecht'EAST HAMPTON, NY.- The Drawing Room is currently presenting the exhibition Weaving the Unraveled: new tapestries by Laurie Lambrecht, which will run through to October 30th. The exhibition brings together unique montages of weaving, photography and embroidery, the artistic traditions Lambrecht has mastered and interlaced over four decades. Born and raised in Bridgehampton, New York Lambrecht maintains her studio practice in her hometown where the coastal landscape and woodland trails continue to inspire her imagery and creativity. The recipient of prestigious artists residencies in Europe and the U.S., Lambrecht travels often to seek inspiration from foreign landscapes where she concentrates on new mixed media projects. In these sumptuous, layered fiber works begun in 2016, Lambrecht embeds color and ... More  1821 Half Eagle soars to $4.6 million, leading First Bass Collection auction to $20.5 million at Heritage AuctionsDALLAS, TEXAS.- A magnificent 1821 half eagle rode a burst of furiously competitive bidding all the way to $4.62 million, leading one of the finest collections of U.S. gold coins and related patterns ever assembled to $20,459,645 in Heritage Auctions Harry W. Bass Jr. Core Collection Part I US Coins Signature® Auction that took place in Long Beach on September. 29th. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the dozens of Dallas-based nonprofits supported by the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation, with a particular emphasis on early childhood education and literacy in Dallas. The Bass Trustees are thrilled with the results and grateful to the Heritage Auctions team for its outstanding execution of this sale said David ... More  Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe among fine autograph and artifacts featuring literature up for auction BOSTON, MASS.- RR Auction's October Fine Autographs and Artifacts sale boasts a wealth of important literary letters and Revolutionary rarities. Highlights include an autograph letter signed by Edgar Allan Poe. In the one-page letter, dated November 12, 1836, Poe solicits a donation for the Southern Literary Messenger, his shortlived employer and his formal entrance into the publishing realm. A beautifully penned letter from the 27-year-old scribe, written during a formative period in his life. (Estimate: $125,000+). A handwritten poem by Emily Dickinson, soliciting a shopkeeper's smile. The autographed poem on two pages, no date but circa 1861. Fabulous autograph manuscript of a poem by Emily Dickinson, rendered in her distinctive, slanted handwriting. this is one of two known copies of the autograph manuscript of this lovely Dickinson ... More |
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Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia 
Virgil Abloh 
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Carolee Schneemann
Flashback On a day like today, Swiss architect Le Corbusier was born  October 06, 1887. Charles-Ãdouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887 - August 27, 1965), was an architect, designer, urbanist, and writer, famous for being one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930. His career spanned five decades, with his buildings constructed throughout Europe, India and America. He was a pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities. Le Corbusier adopted his pseudonym in the 1920s, allegedly deriving it in part from the name of a distant ancestor, "Lecorbésier." He was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal and AIA Gold Medal in 1961. In this image: French architect Georges Le Corbusier, left, and French writer Jules Romains are shown during a session of the conference of artists from around the world in the Palace of the Doges in Venice, Italy, in Sept. 1952.
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