| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Tuesday, December 25, 2018 |
| | | The Birmingham Museum of Art traces depictions of Jesus through art history | |
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Detail of Nativity by Bicci di Lorenzo (Italy), 1410.
BIRMINGHAM, AL.- The Birmingham Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition that considers the wide-ranging representation of one of art historys most pervasive subjects, Jesus. Drawn largely from the Museums permanent collection, Embodying Faith: Imagining Jesus through the Ages showcases 30 works that span more than six centuries and feature varying depictions of Jesus by artists working across the globe: from Ethiopia to Italy, France to Fayette County, Alabama. The exhibition traces how artists imagined Jesus and includes work in a range of media including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, quilts, flags, and books. For centuries, artistic production in Europe, and elsewhere, was dominated by Christian themes. This religious art served many purposes, from embellishing altars and aiding in private devotion, to educating the faithful and acting as propaganda either for or against the church during the Protestant Reformation. A ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Pope Francis kisses a figurine of baby Jesus during a mass on Christmas eve on December 24, 2018 at St Peter's basilica in the Vatican. Tiziana FABI / AFP
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| | | France's Louvre planning Pierre Soulages retrospective next year | | The Met opens an exhibition focusing on early painting styles that emerged in the Pahari courts of North India | | Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung recounts an important tale of Greek mythology |
French painter Pierre Soulages poses on December 12, 2010 in front of one of his works on display at the Vitry-sur-Seine Contemporary art museum. AFP PHOTO MIGUEL MEDINA.
PARIS (AFP).- France's master of black Pierre Soulages announced Monday that he will be the subject of a vast retrospective at the Louvre museum in Paris next year, and possibly an ambitious show in New York as well. "They're borrowing works from the National Gallery in Washington, the MoMa in New York, the Tate in London. All the great museums are making loans," Soulages said in an interview to mark his 99th birthday. "They're going to take down everything in the Salon Carre to install my works," he told the Depeche du Midi newspaper, referring to the Louvre's vaunted gallery of Italian masterpieces. The show will open in December and run through March. In another interview with Le Figaro, Soulages said his dealer Emmanuel Perrotin was planning "a crazy project for my 100th birthday." "He wants to bring all my works at the Fabre ... More | |
Attributed to the Master of the Early Rasamanjari. Devi in the Form of Bhadrakali Adored by the Gods, folio from a dispersed "Tantric Devi" series. India, Punjab Hills, kingdom of Basohli, ca. 1660/70 (detail). Opaque watercolor, gold, silver and beetle-wing cases on paper. Promised Gift of Steven Kossak, The Kronos Collections, 2015.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Metropolitan Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition focusing on early painting styles that emerged in the Pahari courts of North India during the 17th and 18th centuries. Featuring some 20 of the most refined paintings produced in South Asia during the period, Seeing the Divine: Pahari Painting of North India examines the innovative ways in which Pahari artists depicted the Hindu gods. By juxtaposing devotional images with emotionally charged narrative moments, the paintings gave royal patrons a novel approach to forging a personal connection with the divine through devotion (bhakti). Highlights include a rare, early 19th-century temple banner measuring 26 feet that is being shown ... More | |
Experimental reconstruction (intermediate state) of the bronze statue of the so-called terme ruler, 2018.
FRANKFURT.- On view until 10 February 2019 at the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, the major special exhibition Medeas Love and the Quest for the Golden Fleece recounts an important tale of Greek mythology. It is the story of a fabulous adventure and a great love that ends in disaster. Original Greek and Roman sculptures, vases, paintings and wall paintings from the Vesuvian cities of Pompeii and Stabiae illustrate the voyage of the Argonauts and the love of Jason and Medea. Important loans from such institutions as the British Museum in London, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, the Paris Louvre and the Vatican Museums in Rome bring the events to life the perilous maritime expedition of the Greek prince Jason and the Argonauts, the capture of the Golden Fleece and the murderous deeds of the two lovers. Outstanding bronze and gold objects from the Georgian National Museum are also being presented within the ... More |
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| | | Torun gingerbread: the ancient luxury with a secret recipe | | Sculptor gets laughs in New York with monuments to fake tragedies | | Pilgrims gather at Jesus's traditional birthplace for Christmas |
Director of Gingerbread Museum, Malgorzata Mikulska-Wernerowicz poses in the Gingerbread Museum in Torun, Poland, on December 19, 2018. Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP.
TORUN (AFP).- Two master bakers dressed in white use a long knife to carve a heavy, thick slab of molasses-coloured gingerbread dough out of a huge metal vat, where, like wine, it has been maturing for a few months, deep in the cellar of one of the world's oldest bakeries. The bakers at the Kopernik Confectionery Factory in Poland's historic central city of Torun taste the matured dough, checking whether each vat is ready for baking. The factory has used a jealously-guarded secret mix of spices since it opened in 1763 and has been serving up its popular brand of gingerbread non-stop ever since, with the exception of a few years' hiatus during World War II. Only six of the factory's bakers know the exact proportion and types of spices that are used, according to spokesman Jakub Kopczynski. "Cloves preserve the dough, which of course also includes flour and sugar, allowing it to develop its unique flavour as it ages," he tells AFP. Cinnamon, ginger and pepper are also in the spice mix, ... More | |
In this file photo taken on December 17, 2018 artist Joseph Reginella poses at this Staten Island studio, New York, next to a sculpture dedicated to the crew of the tugboat Maria 120. TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP.
NEW YORK (AFP).- It all started in 2016 with a bronze statue commemorating the tragic day in November 1963 when a giant octopus upended the Staten Island ferry, killing nearly 400 people in New York. Wait, what -- a giant octopus? Artist Joseph Reginella smiles. Yes, you read that right. In 2017, another statue appeared in Battery Park, at the lower tip of Manhattan -- a monument to the Wall Street bankers trampled to death in October 1929 when circus impresario P.T. Barnum's elephants broke into a panicked stampede while crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. Hard to believe? Well, quite. A few months ago, strollers along the water's edge in New York found a new statue dedicated to the six crew members of a tugboat who were abducted by aliens in July 1977. The three memorials to three made-up tragedies sprung from the vivid imagination of Reginella, a 47-year-old sculptor and jokester who has made an art out of monuments commemorating non-existent victims. ... More | |
Christian pilgrims gather inside the Grotto, believed to be the exact spot where Jesus Christ was born, at the Church of the Nativity in the biblical West Bank city of Bethlehem, on December 24, 2018, on the eve of the Christmas celebration. Musa Al SHAER / AFP.
BETHLEHEM (AFP).- Pilgrims from across the world gathered in Bethlehem on Monday for Christmas Eve, taking in a parade and queueing to see the grotto where Jesus is believed to have been born. The Palestinian scouts and a bagpipe band paraded in Manger Square across from the Church of the Nativity, built at the traditional site of Jesus's birth. Crowds, some wearing Santa hats or holding balloons, looked on at the square decked out with a giant Christmas tree and a manger as carols in Arabic played through speakers. The Catholic archbishop for the Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, was due to arrive in the afternoon and will later lead midnight mass. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was to be among dignitaries attending the mass. This year, visitors are able to view the Church of the Nativity's newly restored mosaics after they were recently cleaned and repaired in a major project. The first church was built ... More |
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| | | Andreas Beitin to become new Director of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg | | The Centre Pompidou presents major retrospective exhibition to the Japanese architect Tadao Ando | | Exhibition provides new insights into Egon Schiele's working methods |
Andreas Beitin. Photo: Andreas Herrmann.
WOLFSBURG.- On April 1, 2019, Andreas Beitin will take over as head of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg. The art historian has been Director of the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Aachen since February 2016. In November of this year, the exhibition Flashes of the Future. The Art of the 1968 Generation or The Power of the Powerless , substantially conceived by Andreas Beitin, was named Exhibition of the Year 2018 by the German section of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). Together with Brigitte Franzen and Holger Otten, he was honored in 2017 with the renowned Justus Bier Prize for Curators for the exhibition Mies van der Rohe. The MoMA Collages at the Ludwig Forum. Andreas Beitins exhibition Thrill of Deception. From Ancient Art to Virtual Reality , conceived in cooperation with the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung is currently on view in Munich. The exhibition, highly praised by ... More | |
Fascinated by architecture, Tadao Ando (b. 1941 in Osaka, Japan) abandoned professional boxing and set out on an initiatory tour of the world to learn about his passion.
PARIS.- The Centre Pompidou is devoting a major retrospective exhibition to the Japanese architect Tadao Ando, a key figure in contemporary architecture. The exhibition explores his creative principles, such as use of smooth concrete, the pre-eminence of simple geometric volumes and the integration of natural components such as light and water into his spatial designs, as well as the importance he gives to the intensity of the physical experience engendered by his architecture. Fascinated by architecture, Tadao Ando (b. 1941 in Osaka, Japan) abandoned professional boxing and set out on an initiatory tour of the world to learn about his passion. In 1969, he created his own agency in Osaka, where he produced sober, clean-lined designs that went against the 1970s trend ... More | |
Egon Schiele, Picture of Dr. Franz Martin Haberditzl, 1917. Photo: Johannes Stoll © Belvedere, Vienna.
VIENNA.- One hundred years after the death of Egon Schiele, the Belvedere is presenting one of the most innovative contributions to this commemorative year of 2018. At the heart of the show is the museums Schiele collection. On the one hand, the focus is on the genesis of the collection while on the other it tells the stories behind the pictures. In addition, the exhibition presents the results of modern technical investigations, providing new insights into the artists working methods and revealing hitherto unknown aspects about the creation of his masterpieces. The Belvederes Schiele collection today comprises twenty works, including sixteen paintings. The exhibition traces the paths followed by these works from their creation in the artists studio to their accession into the Belvederes collection and beyond. Their stories have been shaped by purchases, gifts, exchange deals ... More |
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| | | Survey looking at the way Punk culture used the language of sexuality on view at the Museum of Sex | | Newcomers join the Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair in London's West End | | Italian toy story: retired mechanic carves old favourites |
Roberta Bayley, Joey Ramone and Debbie Harry, 1977, Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Museum of Sex is presenting Punk Lust: Raw Provocation 1971-1985, a survey looking at the way Punk culture used the language of sexualityboth visually and lyricallyto transgress and defy, whether in the service of political provocation, raw desire, or just to break through the stifling gender norms and social expectations that punks refused to let define them. The exhibition is co-curated by cultural critic Carlo McCormick, journalist, writer and musician Vivien Goldman and Lissa Rivera of the Museum of Sex, among other supporters and is on view through November 30th 2019. Featuring over 300 artifacts, including ephemera, original artworks, film, and garments worn by punk legendsthe exhibition includes a wide selection from archives and private collections set within an immersive installation and soundscape. Punk lust was an expression of revolt, representing both an upheaval of what youth, ... More | |
Antoine Bouvard, A Venetian Canal. Photo: Haynes Fine Art - London & Cotswolds.
LONDON.- The 2019 London season of fine art and antiques fairs opens with The Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair, an annual event, which takes place at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square, London W1K 6JP for the seventh consecutive year, organised by The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited. Opening for four days on Thursday 10 until Sunday 13 January 2019, the fair brings in an international audience, who appreciate the wide variety of disciplines offered by some 40 experts. The majority of the exhibitors are members of one or both of the two professional dealer associations - BADA and LAPADA The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers. Many of the dealers are returning to show their latest purchases. A few are new to the fair: Mitofsky XX Century Fine Art and Design hasn't exhibited at a fair for over ten years, but has decided to join The Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair showing highlights such as ... More | |
Mario Collino, aka "Prezzemolo" ("Parsley" in english) performs his show on the streets on December 16, 2018 in Busca, near Cuneo, Northern Italy. MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP.
CUNEO (AFP).- With his portly frame, bushy white beard and twinkling eyes, Italian toymaker and puppeteer Mario Collino could be a stand-in for Father Christmas. But while he too carts around bags of toys made in his workshop, Collino, who performs under the name "Prezzemolo" (Mister Parsley), is more of a Mister Geppetto, the fictional carver and father of the fairytale hero Pinocchio. Collino, a retired Michelin tyre factory mechanic, has spent nearly 30 years touring old-age homes in his native Piedmont region, asking residents to share memories of their childhood playthings. He sketches the objects they describe, builds them from odds and ends in his Aladdin's cave of a workshop near Cuneo in northern Italy, and then goes back to the retirement home with the finished product. "I ask them if it matches up and then ask their ... More |
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Delphine de Vigan Interview: On Social Media
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Exhibition of paintings by Paul Gagner on view at Freight+Volume
NEW YORK, NY.- Freight+Volume is presenting Holding Out For A Hero, an exhibition of paintings by Paul Gagner. The artists signature amalgam of satire, whimsical expressionism, and starkly honest realism takes center stage, unfurling across canvases depicting fractured bodies and faces, recontextualized art historical signifiers, and oversized sandwiches, along with covers for books by Dr. Howard Moseley, a recurring fictional persona adopted by the artist. Modeled after the books of so-called self-help gurus, Gagner uses the painted covers as a vehicle to explore his own doubts and anxieties, particularly regarding creativity and the artistic ego. Shifting perspectives and aberrations in reality underpin much of the work, and allow the viewer to enter into the artists own cycles of self doubt and creation. Gagners portrayals of the human form are rather incongruous ... More
'Crouching Tiger' star Chow Yun-fat vows to donate fortune
HONG KONG (AFP).- "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" star Chow Yun-fat may be a heavyweight from the golden era of Hong Kong cinema but the famously frugal actor has vowed to donate his vast wealth to charity after he dies. Also known to western audiences for films such as the Oscar-winning "Pirates of the Caribbean" and gangster classic "A Better Tomorrow", Chow has endeared himself to fans in recent years with a modest lifestyle. Multimillionaire Chow, 63, joined Forbes' list of highest paid actors in the world for the first time in 2015, sharing 24th place with Russell Crowe. Yet in Hong Kong -- a city with no shortage of flashy socialites and stars -- he can be spotted taking public transport and lining up for tickets to watch his own movie. Now he has pledged to give away his entire fortune, reportedly HK$5.6 billion (US$715 million). "This money ... More
'A New Way of Seeing: The History of Art in 57 Works' by Kelly Grovier published by Thames & Hudson
LONDON.- A New Way of Seeing asks "what makes great art great?" and questions whether greatness can be pinned down to a single indispensable detail a flourish of strangeness without which masterpieces from Trajan's Column to Munch's The Scream, the Bayeux Tapestry to Andy Warhols Brillo Boxes, The Book of Kells to Gustav Klimts The Kiss and Louise Bourgeoiss Maman would not continue to sing in the popular imagination. Kelly Grovier, one of the most exciting new voices in cultural criticism, answers these questions 57 times by combing the most revered paintings and sculptures in all of art history for overlooked details that, once spotted and explored, alter forever the way that we see and, more importantly, connect with these milestones of creativity. From a spectral sixth finger that ghosts Mona Lisa's hand and the unfinished pearl in Vermeers most famou ... More
Anthony Wilson brings together a collection of his songs and 35mm photographs in new book
LONDON.- In the new album and photobook "Songs and Photographs" made in creative collaboration with artbook publisher Little Steidl Anthony Wilson brings together a collection of his songs and 35mm photographs that opens a new chapter in his broadening quest for personal and musical authenticity. "Most mornings I wake up and go out wandering with my camera, sometimes in my hometown of Los Angeles, often in places around the world where I am traveling on tour. I look, watch, and take in the space around me. Im conscious of my attentive state, totally absorbed in noticing things. My path determines itself, each picture leads me to the next. It's a meandering journey through a landscape or cityscape, but also through my own personal experience. Often the smallest things are what stop ... More
Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center opens a new site-specific installation by Angela Fraleigh
NYACK, NY.- Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center announces Shadows Searching for Light, a new site-specific installation by Angela Fraleigh inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper (1882-1867) and his relationship with his wife, Josephine (Jo) Nivison Hopper (1883-1968). The installation is a continuation of Fraleighs most recent body of work, paintings which reimagine and recontextualize marginalized female figures by freeing them from their previous roles in art history. Exploring the psychological space within Edward Hoppers paintings, and the dynamics of the Hoppers two-artist marriage, Fraleigh focuses on the women who inhabit Hoppers artwork dramatic figures almost always modeled after Jo Nivison Hopper herself. In a vibrant transformation of the main gallery space at the Edward Hopper House, Fraleighs wall ... More
Kunsthalle Osanbrueck exhibits William Engelen's 'Today, the Organ Has Played Beautifully Again'
OSNABRUECK.- William Engelen combines music and visual art in a unique wax. His musical compositions apply highly diverse processes and his scores take just as many different forms. Sometimes they are independent graphic works of art, which the musicians have to interpret; sometimes his compositions consist in edited audio-recordings. William Engelen's works are determined mainly by unique situations or specific spaces. Part of his compositional work for Osnabrueck was to connect different areas of media perception and to play with the human senses of the listeners. In the exhibition Today, the Organ Has Played Beautifully Again visitors listen to an organ in the nave of the former Dominican church which is part of the exhibition space of Kunsthalle Osanbrueck. With the title of the composition William Engelen plays with the expectation ... More
Collective, a new large scale contemporary arts space opens in Edinburgh
EDINBURGH.- Collective - a new centre for contemporary art - opened in Edinburgh after a major restoration project at one of the capitals World Heritage sites. Situated on top of Calton Hill, overlooking the city, Collective includes the restored City Observatory, designed by William Playfair in 1818, a new purpose-built exhibition space with panoramic viewing terrace, and a destination restaurant, The Lookout by Gardeners Cottage. For the first time in its 200-year history the City Observatory site is freely open to the public. The opening marks a fresh chapter in the history of the Observatory site and for Collective, an organisation active on the Scottish arts scene since 1984. Collective positions itself as a new kind of observatory, inviting the public to view the world around them through the lens of contemporary art. A selection of international ... More
Galerie Urs Meile opens the first solo exhibition in the gallery of Swiss artist Mirko Baselgia
LUCERNE.- Galerie Urs Meile announced the opening of the first solo exhibition in the gallery of Swiss artist Mirko Baselgia (*1982). The exhibitions title Habitat can be understood in the biological sense of the term, namely as an ecosystem in which an organism or a group of organisms lives and evolves within the specificities of the surrounding environment. The term originates from the Latin verb habitare to live in or inhabit and in full refers to the natural and artificial features that characterize a human habitat. Mirko Baselgia is interested in the multiple facets of this notion, analyzing the connections that human, animal and vegetal species share with each other and with their surrounding environment. According to the artist, the concept of habitat deals not only with the notion of territory, but also with the (under)ground and the invisible life hiding beneath it. The ... More
John Hansard Gallery presents a retrospective of the work of Edward Woodman
SOUTHAMPTON.- John Hansard Gallery in partnership with Art360 Foundation are presenting Space, Light and Time: Edward Woodman, A Retrospective on view until 2 February 2019. Edward Woodman (b. 1943) is one of the foremost photographers in the history of British contemporary art. In a career that spans six decades, Woodmans journey as a photographer has taken him from making portraits of movie stars in the 1960s and recording political rallies and riots in Brixton in the 1980s to documenting Damien Hirsts seminal exhibition Freeze in 1988 and overnight photoshoots in Zaha Hadids architecture studio. During the 1980s and 1990s Woodman created some of the most iconic portraits of artists and captured some of the legendary exhibitions and fleeting installations of contemporary art in Britain. Celebrated by artists for his sensitivity to capturing ... More
Solo exhibition by the Czech artist Milan Houser on view at the Kunsthalle LAB
BRATISLAVA.- Kunsthalle LAB presents a solo exhibition by the Czech visual artist Milan Houser, entitled Connecting Point. Viewers have previously been able to see his work at Colormetry, for example, his solo exhibition at the House of Art in Brno in 2016. Connecting Point is appearing as a complementary event to VladimÃr Beskids curatorial project OBJECTive. The Czech visual artist Milan Houser (*1971) has long been fascinated by the materiality of painting as such. He concentrates his research on paintings basic means of expression and their capacity to sustain their own visual information. In Housers work phenomena and objects have their world and meaning even without human presence and interpretations. Hence he sees the picture more as a painterly body, a physical visual object, rather than an abstract painting or surface. Houser ... More
Solo exhibition featuring 16 geometric, sculptural cityscapes by Bo Droga on view at Olsen Gruin
NEW YORK, NY.- Olsen Gruin is presenting Urban Landscapes: A Road to Nowhere, a solo exhibition featuring 16 geometric, sculptural cityscapes by Bo Droga. This series of abstract three-dimensional compositions is composed of wood, particleboard, fiberboard, and acrylic on PVC plastic. Bo Drogas artwork stems from his strong interest in urban landscapes and how order and chaos converge in city developments. His new series Urban Landscapes: A Road to Nowhere originates from the experience of sitting in an airplane looking down over a city or dense urban development. From this perspective, individual buildings are barely recognizable as such. Instead they look like simple abstract forms and shapes for a brief moment in time before they become discernible as you descend closer to the city. This fleeting moment is what Droga articulates ... More
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Flashback On a day like today, sculptor and painter Louise Bourgeois was born December 25, 1911. Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (25 December 1911 - 31 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a variety of themes over the course of her long career including domesticity and the family, sexuality and the body, as well as death and the subconscious. In this image: Louise Bourgeois, The Found Child, 2001. Black fabric, 30.5 x 68.6 x 40.6 cm. Collection The Easton Foundation. Photo: Christopher Burke, (c) The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, NY.
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