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The Bavarian State Painting Collections restitute Nazi-looted painting

Hl. Florian, 1480, softwood, 125,3 x 65,2 cm. Photo: Johannes Haslinger, Bavarian State Painting Collections.

MUNICH.- In April 2021 a late medieval wooden panel depicting Saint Florian, formerly in the ownership of the art dealer A. S. Drey, was restituted to the legal successors, i.e. to the community of heirs of the art dealer A. S. Drey. The work is to be handed over to a legal representative of the art dealer’s on behalf of the community of heirs. This, the 21st restitution made by the Bavarian State Painting Collections in line with the ‘Washington Principles’, will take place in the Pinakothek Museum without a personal meeting due to the pandemic. Bavarian State Minister Bernd Sibler said, “With the restitution of the Gothic wooden panel to the legal community of heirs, the great injustice that the Drey and Stern families had to suffer under the Nazis has been officially recognised and a step taken towards making amends. I would like to thank the Bavarian State Painting Collections, with its provenance research work, for ... More


The Best Photos of the Day
Best Photos of the Day
Following a two-year-long renovation and expansion project, the new Dia Chelsea reopened to the public, April 16, 2021. On reopening, admission to Dia Chelsea is now permanently free, making all of Dia's five sites and locations in New York City free to the public.






Colnaghi to manage "Madrid Caravaggio" restoration, authentication, and sale   Sotheby's sets new record for most valuable sneakers ever sold in $1.8 million private sale   Monumental skull painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat to anchor Christie's sale in May


Renowned gallery will lead scholarly assessment, scientific analysis, restoration, and subsequent sale. Photo: Ansorena.

MADRID.- Colnaghi gallery has been selected to spearhead the scholarly assessment, scientific analysis, and restoration of an Ecce Homo painting now understood to be by the great Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The oil on canvas depicting Christ being crowned with thorns was originally attributed to the “circle” of the 17th-century Spanish painter José de Ribera. The painting, which has been in the family of the Pé rez de Castro Méndez for centuries, was set to be sold at auction in Madrid before the family was alerted of its possible reattribution. The family subsequently withdrew the work from auction and the Ministry of Culture has issued an exportation block of the painting from Spain until its attribution and possibly authentication process is complete. Established in 1760, Colnaghi is the leading Old Masters dealer, providing connoisseurship and expert services to major institutions and ... More
 

First pair of sneakers to top $1 million. Courtesy Sotheby's.

NEW YORK, NY.- Marking a new world record for a pair of sneakers ever sold, Sotheby’s announced today that sneaker investing platform RARES has acquired the Kanye West ‘Grammy Worn’ Nike Air Yeezy 1 Prototypes from 2008 for a record-breaking $1.8 million via private sale. The price sets a new milestone for a publicly recorded sneaker sale, shattering the current auction record for sneakers by almost three times, and establishes the Yeezy 1 Prototypes as the most valuable sneakers ever and the first recorded sneaker sale for more than $1 million. The groundbreaking and unprecedented sale continues Sotheby’s track record as a pioneer and the leading global auction house in sneaker sales. Since Sotheby’s inaugural dedicated sneaker sale in 2019, in which a pair of Nike Waffle Shoes sold for $437,500 and established a new auction record at the time, Sotheby’s has set several additional benchmarks for the category, includi ... More
 

Jean-Michel Basquiat, In This Case (detail). Acrylic and oilstick on canvas, 77 7/8 x 73 3/4 in. Executed in 1983. Estimate: US$50 million. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s announces the addition of artistic titan Jean-Michel Basquiat’s monumental “skull” painting In This Case to its upcoming 21th Century Evening Sale at Christie’s New York on 11 May (estimate in excess of US$50 million). In This Case is last in the series of Basquiat’s holy trinity of “skull” paintings made in 1983. Included in the ground-breaking Basquiat retrospective at Paris’s Fondation Louis Vuitton, In This Case was shown alongside his two most iconic masterworks, Untitled (1981)—held in The Broad Museum, Santa Monica—and Untitled (1982), which sold in 2017 for more than $110 million, reaching the highest price ever attained by an American artist at auction. With its blazing color, pyrotechnic vigor and explosive anatomical vision of the skull executed on an immense scale, In This Case takes its place alongside these works as a ... More


The National Gallery of Art announces new acquisitions   University of Pennsylvania Libraries receives major gift of works by renowned photographer Arthur Tress   The Museo Nacional del Prado launches its first Virtual Tour in Spanish and English


Jonas Wood, Helen’s Room, 2017, oil and acrylic on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Purchased as the Gift of Stuart Barr, Sarah MacKey, and TSL, a Private Asian Collector, 2020.13.1. Photography by Brian Forrest. Image courtesy of the artist and Gagosian.

WASHINGTON, DC.- The National Gallery of Art has acquired its first work by contemporary artist Jonas Wood (b. 1977). Wood’s graphic painting style uses familial relations to address the real and psychological spaces that capture the intimacy and personal nature of his work. An important example of the artist’s work, Helen’s Room (2017) refers to an upstairs bedroom in Wood’s maternal grandfather’s home in Binghamton, New York. This painting, the artist has explained, created a "new, heightened memory of spending time with family." Wood combines several studies into a single image, resulting in spatial contradictions and subtly interrupted or overlapping elements. Characteristic ... More
 

Arthur Tress self-portrait (2018). Not included in collection gifted to the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.- The University of Pennsylvania Libraries announced the gift of works by the renowned American contemporary photographer Arthur Tress (b. 1940, Brooklyn). Generously given by an anonymous donor, this outstanding collection – part of which has already been appraised at $4.2M – joins another recent gift of Tress photography given to the Penn Libraries by J. Patrick Kennedy, PAR’97, and Patricia Kennedy, PAR’97, for a combined 2,500 photographic prints. Together these collections document Tress’s diverse and fascinating career and represent the largest collection of Tress photographic prints in the United States. In 2018, Tress, among the most original artists of his generation, gave the Penn Libraries his collection of Japanese illustrated books, which served as inspiration for his own artistic vision. “This incredible ... More
 

Superzoom image of Venus and Adonis with the face of Venus where you can see the details of the brushstrokes, colours etc...

MADRID.- Mythological Passions becomes the first exhibition at the Museo del Prado to have its own virtual tour. Virtual visitors can now move around the galleries of the exhibition with the optimum level of image quality currently available for visits of this type thanks to Second Canvas’s Gigapixel technology, complemented by commentaries on the most significant details of some of the works. This virtual tour is available in Spanish or English for 2.50 Euros from the Museo del Prado’s website Alejandro Vergara, one of the exhibition’s curators, leads a short Welcome Tour of the galleries, presenting the exhibition and providing virtual visitors with the necessary context before they start the Free Exploration, a space in which users can enjoy the exhibition in a non-guided manner with the audio guide, the room text and the leaflet; extremely ... More


Martian meteorite- among the rarest specimens on Earth- illuminates Bonhams sale   Christie's will offer Dana Schutz's 'The Fishermen (2021)' to benefit large-scale land conservation   Neil Armstrong signed 'Giant Leap' photograph sold for more than $90,000 at auction


Superb Martian Main Mass – Individual, 4.5 x 4.5 inches, 3.5 inches thick, Estimate: $375,000-450,000. Photo: Bonhams.

NEW YORK, NY.- Three years ago, a specimen plucked from the sands of the Sahara Desert was ascertained to be an intact Martian meteorite, one of the rarest celestial specimens ever discovered on Earth. From May 18 – 28, 2021, Bonhams presents Meteorites Online, a sale featuring this superb main mass, which lay on the surface of Mars for millennia prior to making its interplanetary journey, and existing as one of just 245 approved meteorites to ever be classified ‘Martian.’ It is estimated to achieve $375,000-450,000. The sale is also highlighted by a second phenomenal specimen—this one, a Lunar meteorite that presents an incredibly unique structure of clasts and matrix telling the story of the cataclysmic impact that ejected this object from the moon’s surface to planet Earth. This spectacular end cut of the main mass, classified by the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico, is ... More
 

Dana Schutz, The Fishermen (detail). Oil on canvas, 90 x 96 in. Painted in 2021. Estimate: $400,000-600,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

NEW YORK, NY.- On May 11, Christie’s New York 21st Century Evening Sale will offer Dana Schutz, The Fishermen to benefit Art into Acres. Donated by the artist, the proceeds of the work will support the permanent conservation of 2.5 million acres of land. These Indigenous-led conservation projects sustain wildlife habitat and migration on landscapes with high levels of biodiversity. As a strategic climate donation, this painting will leverage a cumulative 300% in matching funds from partner organizations including Andes Amazon Fund, Global Wildlife Conservation and the Wyss Foundation. The funds support formal protection status at a national level. Conserving intact ecosystems is one of the leading ways to maintain the planet’s ability to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide and to mitigate climate change. Land conservation is a natural climate solution, underlying efforts to protect at least 30% of the world ... More
 

The 'giant leap' of Neil Armstrong, signed for the head of NASA's photo department.

BOSTON, MASS.- A Neil Armstrong signed photograph taking mankind's 'giant leap' sold $91,451, according to Boston-based RR Auction. The glossy 10 x 8 photo of Neil Armstrong just before setting foot on the lunar surface signed, "Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11." Captured from NASA's original video transmission of the historic event, this is one of the most recognizable images of the lunar landing: Armstrong taking his first step onto the landing pad, seconds before delivering what is arguably the most famous quote of the 20th century. As the Apollo 11 astronauts touched down on the moon and the first television transmissions made it to earth, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in California was called to work. Responsible for altering the images to photo film, the photo development team there was first to see and handle most of the now-famous images. In appreciation for his hard work, NASA gave the man in charge of the JPL this photo, one of very few images o ... More


Silvana Editoriale publishes "Germano Celant: The Story of (my) Exhibitions"   Christie's announces Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale   Andrea Kunard appointed National Gallery of Canada Senior Curator of Photographs


An imposing book, which he had been working on for some time, dedicated to 34 exhibitions conceived and curated by him between 1967 and 2018.

MILAN.- 562 pages, over 300 images, many never before published, a rich collection of documents and critical essays: The Story of (my) Exhibitions – one of the last works by Germano Celant, published by Silvana Editoriale with the collaboration of Studio Celant – testifies to the historical and critical path of 34 exhibitions designed and curated by the critic between 1967 and 2018. “Celant had worked extensively on an editorial project that would be the synthesis of his wide-ranging critical research. This book, of which he followed all the processing stages, is the outcome of this endeavor. In each of the exhibitions presented, one can recognize his curatorial method through which he created the ‘exhibition’ system, using different artistic languages and different media to assemble artworks and documentary material. Studio Celant worked together with the publisher Silvana Editoriale to make sure that this volume remains true to his original ... More
 

Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), Floating Cloud VII. Wood construction, painted white, 67 ½ x 59 x 7 ½ in. Executed in 1977. Estimate: $500,000-700,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s will present the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale on May 14, 2021 in New York. Featuring works by 20th and 21st century masterworks, the sale will be headlined by leading post-war artists and blue-chip contemporary names such as Louise Nevelson, Gerhard Richter, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Henry Taylor and Jack Whitten. Additionally, the sale features an exciting selection of fresh works by cutting-edge talent, including Clare Tabouret, Salman Toor, Derrick Adams, Matthew Wong and Shara Hughes. Another highlight of the sale are sublime examples of female Abstract Expressionists, featuring extraordinary works by Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan and Elaine de Kooning, alongside selections from the Rewind Collective. Recognizing the undeniable contributions of each of these women artists, Rewind Collective has taken as its mission the reconsideration ... More
 

Originally hired in 1998 as Assistant Curator at the Gallery’s affiliate museum, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Andrea Kunard was Associate Curator of Photographs since 2009. Photo: NGC.

OTTAWA.- The National Gallery of Canada announced today the appointment of Andrea Kunard to the position of Senior Curator of Photographs, effective today. “Andrea has a long history at the Gallery,” said NGC Director and CEO Sasha Suda. “She has done remarkable work as our Associate Curator of Photographs—writing compelling exhibition catalogues and organizing major exhibitions such as Moyra Davey: The Faithful (2020) and Photography in Canada 1960–2000 (2017), as well as virtual ones, like Photostories Canada (launched in 2017). We are honoured to have her on our team. Her expertise will go a long way towards fulfilling our commitment to represent the communities we exist to serve, as well as to extend the reach of the collection.” In her new role as Senior Curator of Photographs, Ms. Kunard will oversee the Gallery’s photography department. ... More




Artist Interview: "Concentrations 26: Celia Álvarez Muñoz, Abriendo Tierra / Breaking Ground"



More News

Paul Oscher, blues musician in Muddy Waters' band, dies at 74
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Paul Oscher was 20 when he started playing harmonica for Muddy Waters. It was 1967, and he was a rare sight for the times: a white man playing in a Black blues band of such prominence. He more than held his end up for Waters, the legendary star. Oscher later recalled his old boss saying, “I don’t care what color he is as long as he plays the soul I feel.” Rick Estrin, a harmonica player from San Francisco, in a phone interview, recalled seeing Oscher play behind Waters in Chicago, baby faced but sounding like he’d been born decades earlier. “He had an emotional intensity to his playing that he could turn up and down like a preacher,” Estrin said. “An internal rhythmic groove, relaxed and seductive. The blues were like a religion to him.” Oscher died on April 18 at a hospital in Austin, Texas. He was 74. The cause ... More

Long before her 'Minari' Oscar, Yuh-Jung Youn won South Korea's heart
SEOUL (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- “Minari,” the critically acclaimed movie about a hard-luck family of Korean immigrants in the United States, was not exactly a commercial blockbuster in South Korea: Fewer than a million people watched it in 54 days of screening across the country. But when one of its stars, Yuh-Jung Youn, won the Academy Award for best supporting actress, South Koreans rejoiced not only because it was a first for a Korean actor, but also because of the recipient. On Monday morning, the South Korean media sent out news flashes when Youn won her Oscar. Cable channels announced plans to screen her previous films. Social media was abuzz with fans congratulating her. “Her performance brilliantly helped us relive the memories of our own mothers and grandmothers,” President Moon Jae-in said in a statement, referring ... More

Latest exhibition at TW Fine Art explores currency as artistic medium
PALM BEACH, FLA.- TW Fine Art is presenting: Show Me The Money, a collective exhibition running from April 9th, 2021 to May 16th, 2021 at its outpost in Palm Beach, Florida. Show Me The Money features works by thirteen artists. Show Me The Money investigates the concept of currency through a visual and tactile exploration of both currency’s tangible forms – such as coins, woven paper bills, and precious metals – and also the semiotics associated with wealth and materialism. Works by masters of contemporary and modern art are juxtaposed with works by TW-represented artists, highlighting TW’s hybrid approach to fine art agency which unites established collectors with early and mid-career visual artists unparalleled enabling access to primary and secondary market works. Complementing the palpable explorations of currency, ... More

Exhibition at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium features works by Thomas Houseago
BRUSSELS.- The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium opened a new exhibition by Thomas Houseago (b. 1972, Leeds, UK). Comprising large-scale paintings, drawings and never previously exhibited journals, the works occupy two first floor galleries of the museum in a parallel display to the permanent collection. The artist’s work is also brought into confrontation with The Death of Marat (1793) by Jacques-Louis David. In this gallery, viewers are invited to contemplate the emotional tenor of the neoclassical and contemporary works, as well as their formal differences and shared points of connection. The landscape paintings in the exhibition mark a major new departure for Houseago. Executed in Malibu, Los Angeles, and frequently en plein air —evidenced by the organic matter trapped on their surfaces— they give full expression to ... More

Daylight to publish Fauxliage: Disguised Cell Phone Towers of the American West by Annette LeMay Burke
NEW YORK, NY.- American photographer Annette LeMay Burke first stumbled upon a cell phone tower masquerading as a tree in the early 2000s. Even living in her native Silicon Valley in Northern California surrounded by technology, she thought the tree looked out of place. This first encounter with a decorated tower sparked her interest to see more. From 2015-2020 she embarked on a series of road trips across the American West to locate and document these strange manmade creations allegedly built to minimize visual pollution by blending in with the environment. “While I was initially drawn to the towers’ whimsical appearances, the more I photographed them, the more disconcerted I felt that technology was clandestinely modifying our environment,” she writes in her essay in the book. “I began to explore how this manufactured nature had imposed ... More

Galleries and studios across Scotland are ready to welcome visitors
GLASGOW.- From the Pier Arts Centre in Orkney to Cample Line Gallery in Dumfries and Galloway all over the country this spring and summer, Scotland’s art galleries, studios, contemporary art venues and production workshops are opening up. Now a new campaign to help the public find their nearest gallery and champion Scotland’s world class contemporary art and studio facilities has been launched. The #ArtUnlocks campaign organised by Scottish Contemporary Art Network (SCAN), will highlight the cultural opportunities in neighbourhoods across Scotland, with venues that are ready to welcome visitors and artists from 26th April over the coming months. New openings will be announced and shared using the hashtag #ArtUnlocks and a continually refreshed list of contemporary art openings will be available at: www.sca-net.org/artunlocks. For ... More

Digital exhibition celebrates sustainability through heritage craft
NEW DELHI.- Karkhana Chronicles II has launched online with a series of installations which bring together craft patronage and contemporary design. The digital exhibition opens a conversation around India’s textile heritage, looking back to tradition to find design solutions of the future. Supported by The ReFashion Hub - a sustainability-focused initiative with a special emphasis on water stewardship - the project has worked with the royal families of Indore, Kathiwada, Bhavnagar and Mysore to open a conversation on the revival of traditional knowledge and practices in the Indian fashion industry. The project draws its inspiration from the artisanal workshop or ‘karkhana’ whilst advocating for fashion that is kinder to the climate, natural resources, and the people engaged within this sector. The installations that are a part of the textile ... More

H&H Classics to offer rare car built by engineers who produced "the Rolls Royce of motorcycles"
LONDON.- Understood to be the first eight-cylinder chassis completed and the third one registered, this wonderful Brough Superior 4.2-Litre Drophead Coupé has been in its current family ownership since 1960. It has had just four owners from new. The first was Major Michael Wills of W.D and H.O Wills Tobacco, known for the square yellow tins their cigarettes came in. This Brough Superior Dual-Purpose was manufactured in 1935 and fitted with the potent 4.2 litre Hudson eight-cylinder side-valve engine, of which only 25 examples were built, mated to a three-speed manual transmission. A performance match for a contemporary Alvis, Bentley or Lagonda, the Brough was used by Wills until the 4th February 1937 when it was involved in an accident. It was subsequently purchased by Wing Commander Sykes of Buckinghamshire who had the ... More

'Nomadland' makes history, and Chadwick Boseman is upset at the Oscars
LOS ANGELES (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- “Nomadland,” Chloé Zhao’s meditation on grief and the damaged American dream, won Academy Awards for best picture, director and actress at Sunday night’s surreal ceremony, a stage show broadcast on television about films mostly distributed on the internet. It was a sleepy event until the final minutes, when academy voters served up a dramatic twist ending: Anthony Hopkins, 83, won the best actor Oscar for “The Father,” beating out the late Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), who was the runaway favorite going into the night, having been lauded by film organizations and critics’ groups for months. Frances McDormand was named best actress for “Nomadland,” the third time she has won the award. “Nomadland” gave Searchlight Pictures its fourth best-picture prize in eight years, ... More

Christie's announces highlights included in The Collector sales
LONDON.- Christie’s announces The Collector sales this spring to be offered across two auctions comprising The Collector: Online from 29 April to 20 May and The Collector: Live on 19 May at Christie’s King Street. The Collector sales bring together the finest examples of European and English furniture, works of art, silver, ceramics and gold boxes representing the celebrated makers and high craftsmanship from the 17th – 19th centuries. This season, Christie’s have collaborated with Tastemaker and former Artistic Director of Oscar de la Renta, Peter Copping. Peter’s illustrious career in fashion has seen him work with some of the most prestigious fashion houses including Louis Vuitton, Nina Ricci and Sonia Rykiel. Peter’s love of antiques meanwhile grew from an early age and his own fervour for decorative arts has led him to become ... More

Istituto Svizzero opens a major solo show by Swiss artist Hannah Villiger
ROME.- Istituto Svizzero, for the first time in Italy, presents a major solo show by renowned Swiss artist Hannah Villiger (1951-97). The exhibition explores the full breadth of her ground-breaking work, also in relation to her stay in Rome during the ‘70s. Hannah Villiger gained prominence in the 1980s with the large-format photographs of her own body, often showing close- ups of fragmented and abstract body parts. The artist, who viewed herself as a sculptor rather than a photographer, was a fellow at the Istituto Svizzero in Rome from November 1974 to the summer of 1976. These ‘Roman years’ were decisive in shaping her artistic practice: in her studio and in the garden of Villa Maraini, Hannah Villiger began developing simple objects inspired by the materials of Arte Povera. She then gradually shifted to photography perceived in her eyes as a more “sculptural ... More


PhotoGalleries

Sophie Taeuber-Arp & Hans Arp: Cooperations – Collaborations

Future Retrieval

Clarice Beckett

Kim Tschang-Yeul


Flashback
On a day like today, Dutch painter and illustrator Jan van Goyen died
April 27, 1656. Jan Josephszoon van Goyen (13 January 1596 - 27 April 1656) was a Dutch landscape painter. Van Goyen was an extremely prolific artist; approximately twelve hundred paintings and more than one thousand drawings by him are known. In this image: River Scene, 1652.

  
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