| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Tuesday, February 4, 2020 |
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| | When the florist isn't enough, the rich go BIG | |
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What do you give when youre a 1%er and you want her to be 1-800-DAZZLED? A one-of-a-kind bouquet by artist Tom Wesselmann Bouquet will be someones answer in Palm Beach this weekend.
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.- One successful bidder (or their lucky sweetheart) will be walking away from Palm Beach Modern Auctions on Saturday, Feb. 8th with a one-of-a-kind monumental Tom Wesselmann Steel Drawing sculpture titled Wildflower Bouquet (One-Handled Vase). The wall-spanning spray of vibrant blooms was formed using a laser-cutting technique the artist helped develop, which allowed him to meticulously reproduce his drawings in steel. Painted in the highly saturated colors the artist is known for, close inspection reveals subtle gradients and variations in the color, perhaps a second nod to the irony of presenting such delicate subject matter in a material known for its hardness. Most of Tom Wesselmanns Steel Drawing sculptures on the market today are series pieces. Finding a unique piece like this, in this size and condition, with provenance from the prestigious Russeck Gallery on Palm Beachs Worth Ave., is ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day A picture taken on January 30, 2020, shows skulls and human remains, among many archeological finds discovered in 3000-year-old communal tombs dedicated to high priests, in Al-Ghoreifa in Tuna al-Jabal in the Minya governorate. The archaeological mission in Al-Ghoreifa in Minya, about 300 kilometres south of Egypt's capital Cairo, found 16 tombs filled with 20 sarchophagi, including a wooden sarcophagus of the sky God Horus, the Antiquities Ministry announced. The communal tombs dating back to around 2600 BC were dedicated to high priests of the god Djehuty and senior officials in Upper Egypt. Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP
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 | | Teenager kills himself by leaping from the Vessel at Hudson Yards | | Charlotte's little book is back where it belongs | | The future Museum for Migration de FENIX has acquired complete fragment of the Berlin Wall | 
Tourists outside of the Vessel at Hudson Yards in New York, Dec. 19, 2019. Mark Wickens/The New York Times.
by Katie Van Syckle
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- A 19-year-old man jumped to his death on Saturday from the Vessel, the sculpture that is the centerpiece in the Hudson Yards development, authorities said. The leap around 6 p.m. stunned visitors to the 150-foot-high steel structure. Some onlookers screamed as they realized what had happened, witnesses said. One person ran up to the body and covered the young mans face with a jacket, the witnesses said. The identity of the young man who died was not officially released, but classmates said he was Peter De Salvo, who graduated from Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. They were stunned at the news. Of anyone from our grade, I wouldnt have expected it to be Peter, ... More | | 
Curatorial Assistant at the Bronte Parsonage Museum Emma Littlejohns with Charlotte's 'little book'. Credit Simon Dewhurst.
HAWORTH.- An extremely rare and significant little book, written by Charlotte Brontë in 1830 when she was just 14 years old, has returned to Haworth and the home where it was written, now the Brontë Parsonage Museum, where it is being displayed as part of the Museums collection for the first time. In November 2019 The Brontë Society was successful in its bid to bring back this extraordinary item, following a campaign that gathered support from across the world and the backing of many of todays leading creative thinkers and artists including Dames Judi Dench and Jacqueline Wilson. The exceptional title went under the hammer at the Drouot auction house in Paris and was sold to the Society for 600,000 plus auction costs. The manuscript completes the collection already held at the Brontës former family ... More | | 
Fragment of the Berlin Wall.
ROTTERDAM.- From 1961 the Berlin Wall was regarded as the most frightening border symbol between two worlds. After the fall of the Wall in 1989, large parts disappeared as rubble and grit in road construction projects. It is also estimated that millions of small pieces of the Berlin Wall scattered worldwide as a historical reminder of a closed era. More rare are the complete fragments that were once part of this hated border between countries, the border between the West and East, the Communist and free world. For the future FENIX, the philantropic foundation Stichting Droom en Daad was able to acquire one of the complete fragments at an auction during the BRAFA art fair in Brussels last weekend. Here five parts of the Wall were auctioned separately, each for the benefit of various charities. This auction raised a total of 326,000, the piece for the FENIX was hammered out at 62,000. Rotterdam was the port of depar ... More |
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| | Martine Gosselink appointed new Director of Mauritshuis | | LiveAuctioneers and ARTA announce auction industry's first integration for streamlined shipping | | Rubik's Cube "Mona Lisa" goes on sale in Paris | 
Martine Gosselink is currently Head of History at the Rijksmuseum.
THE HAGUE.- The Supervisory Board of the Mauritshuis announced today that Martine Gosselink has been appointed as General Director of the Mauritshuis. From 1 April, Gosselink will succeed former General Director Emilie Gordenker, who as of 1 February exchanged the Mauritshuis for the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. As the Rijksmuseums Head of History, Gosselink led the museums historical programming (encompassing the permanent display, acquisition policy, provenance research into the museums colonial collections, publications and events, including the annual Night of History). She was responsible for the exhibitions Good Hope (2017, about the relationship between South Africa and the Netherlands since 1600), 80 Years War (2018) and the annual photography exhibition Document Nederland. Under her leadership, the upcoming exhibitions Slavery (25 September 2020) and ... More | | 
Purchasing oversized, fragile, and high-value goods at auction just got easier thanks to a new partnership between LiveAuctioneers and ARTA. Image provided by LiveAuctioneers.
NEW YORK, NY.- Today, LiveAuctioneers and ARTA announce a new partnership that redefines the experience of purchasing art, antiques and luxury items auctioned online. Innovative leaders in auction technology and logistics solutions, respectively, LiveAuctioneers and ARTA have joined forces to provide automated shipping solutions for auction houses and buyers on the worlds largest online auction marketplace for one-of-a-kind items. Leveraging ARTAs API to streamline the logistical complications that come with selling high-value, oversized, or fragile goods online, LiveAuctioneers enables auction-house partners with the ability to offer buyers instant shipping quotes that can be booked during the checkout process. ARTA will also provide white-glove fulfillment on behalf of the auction houses under this ... More | | 
Invader, whose real name is Franck Slama, claimed that they the foundational creations of a new art movement called "Rubikcubism".
PARIS (AFP).- A street art Rubik's Cube version of the "Mona Lisa" is expected to sell for up to 150,000 euros ($166,000) when it goes under the hammer in Paris this month. Made from 330 Rubik's Cubes by the French artist Invader -- famous for his ceramic Space Invaders figures inspired by the vintage pixelated video game -- is called "Rubik Mona Lisa". It is the first of a series of works in which the artist has recreated some of the great paintings of art history in Rubik's Cubes. Invader, whose real name is Franck Slama, claimed that they the foundational creations of a new art movement called "Rubikcubism". He has glued Space Invaders works to walls in more than 33 countries, and even inspired smartphone applications for fans trying to track them down. "Rubik Mona Lisa" will go on sale at Artcurial on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on February 23 as a part of auction ... More |
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| | Leading contemporary artists to headline Phillips' 20th Century & Contemporary Art February Auctions | | Exhibition introduces Nancy Spero's work for the first time in Denmark | | The Victoria & Albert Museum appoints Duncan Forbes as inaugural Director of Photography | 
Keith Haring 1958-1990, Untitled, 1981. Estimate £3,000,000-4,000,000. Image courtesy of Phillips.
LONDON.- Phillips brings together a rich diversity of contemporary artists during its London sales of 20th Century & Contemporary Art this February. The Evening Sale will open with a front run of highly sought-after names, including Amoako Boafo, Julie Curtiss, Tschabalala Self, Eddie Martinez, and Katharina Grosse. Young British Artists will also form a key focal point, with works from the esteemed Robert Tibbles Collection: Young British Artists & More, as well as pieces by major figures including Keith Haring, Ed Ruscha, Peter Doig, and Sean Scully. Comprised of 41 lots, the Evening Sale will take place at 7 pm on 13 February, and will be followed by the Day Sale at 2 pm on 14 February. This sale has been purposefully assembled to reflect current international collecting trends, with a front run of young artists positioned alongside seminal works by blue-chip contemporary names, said Olivia Thornton, Head of 20th Century & C ... More | | 
Nancy Spero, Male Bomb, 1967. Gouache and ink on paper, 86 x 69 cm. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art © The Nancy Spero and Leon Golub Foundation of the Arts. Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co.
HUMLEBÃK.- In 2020, the exhibition series Louisiana on Paper presents the American artist Nancy Spero (1926-2009). Her many-faceted oeuvre challenges power of all kinds political oppression, racism and male dominance. The human figure is the central motif and a unifying element. The feminist pioneer Nancy Spero is being introduced for the first time in Denmark when her works can be experienced in the South Wing at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Early in her artistic career Spero as artist and activist made the decision, in opposition to most of the American art world, to work figuratively. Later she chose to stop painting with oil on canvas to work exclusively with paper as her pictorial medium. Nancy Spero was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and trained at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1949. Subsequently she spent several ... More | | 
Duncan Forbes, Director of Photography, V&A. He has most recently been based in Los Angeles, working as a Researcher at the Getty Research Institute, where he has been exploring and extending its rich archival holdings of photography.
LONDON.- The V&A announces the appointment of renowned photography curator and scholar Duncan Forbes as Director of Photography. Forbes will take up the newly-created role in April 2020 to drive forward the V&As reputation as one of the worlds leading institutions for the research, exhibition and understanding of international photography. Forbes will lead the V&As team of photography curators on its mission to bring new photographic narratives and histories to light through new acquisitions, artist collaborations, international partnerships, research projects and exhibitions. He will also spearhead a major cataloguing and digitisation programme to further enhance public access to the V&As photography collections one of the largest and most important in the world. In addition, Forbes will oversee the development ... More |
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| | George Steiner, prodigious literary critic, dies at 90 | | 14a presents New York and Tokyo based artist KAITO Itsuki's first solo exhibition in Europe | | New exhibition features eyewitness drawings made during Holocaust by daring artists who risked all | 
George Steiner at the Harvard Club in Manhattan in March, 26, 1998. Nancy Siesel/The New York Times.
by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt and William Grimes
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- George Steiner, a literary polymath and man of letters whose voluminous criticism often dealt with the paradox of literatures moral power and its impotence in the face of an event like the Holocaust, died Monday at his home in Cambridge, England. He was 90. His death was confirmed by his son, Dr. David Steiner. An essayist, fiction writer, teacher, scholar and literary critic he succeeded Edmund Wilson as senior book reviewer for The New Yorker from 1966 until 1997 George Steiner both dazzled and dismayed his readers with the range and occasional obscurity of his literary references. Essential to his views, as he avowed in Grammars of Creation, a book based on the Gifford Lectures he delivered at the University of Glasgow in 1990, is my astonishment, naive as it seems to people, that you can use human speech both ... More | | 
KAITO Itsuki, Installation view.
HAMBURG.- KAITOs new body of work invites the viewer to enter a mythological world in which human characters and imaginary creatures illustrate the contemporary human mind. By pushing the boundaries of form and color she builds a narrative that draws together disparate elements from the real and the imaginary world into a cohesive and thought-provoking whole. Amazon-esque goddesses, fictitious monster-like creatures reminiscent of Digimon or Pokémon from a parallel universe and male figures reflect on the process of gaining identity by highlighting the metamorphoses between them. KAITOs story-telling flows between the real and the imaginary world, questioning behavioural traits and emphasising the many forms identity can take. In her paintings, she revives mythologies in order to reveal the most hidden parts of the human psyche. Self-realisation within fixed socio-political structures is a recurring topic in KAITOs work and is a reference to her up ... More | | 
Alfred Lakos, Returned Deportee. 16 3/4 in x 12 1/16 in. Pencil on paper. Gift of Charles Barber in honor of Dr. Paul Barber, Museum of Jewish Heritage A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, New York.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Museum of Jewish Heritage A Living Memorial to the Holocaust announces the opening of a special exhibition featuring drawings made during and shortly after the Holocaust by eyewitnesses documenting their experiences. Rendering Witness: Holocaust-Era Art as Testimony is curated from the Museums collection and features a majority of artworks never presented before. The exhibition is on display from January 16 to July 5, 2020 at the Museum located in Manhattans Battery Park City. Rendering Witness is a very special opportunity to see the first-hand experiences of the Holocaust as depicted by individuals who lived through its horrors. The artists, which include a young girl, took great risks to make this art. These were tremendous acts of bravery and resistance. That these fragile works have survived is a testament ... More |
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Kirchner's Primitive Nude Transcends the Laws of Perception
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 Eurydice, a new opera, looks back all too tamelyLOS ANGELES (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Composer Matthew Aucoin began working on Crossing, his first opera, when he was in college. It was a work of enormous talent, exciting promise and considerable hubris: Aucoin wrote his own libretto, inventing a story about Walt Whitmans work with wounded soldiers during the Civil War. If Crossing (2015) lacked a certain kind of unity as Aucoin, now 29, said in a recent interview it was still taut, intense and audacious. What would he do next? The answer came Saturday, with the premiere of Eurydice at the Los Angeles Opera, where it runs through Feb. 23 before traveling to the Metropolitan Opera in New York next year. This project demanded a very different approach. Aucoin didnt write the libretto; instead, the text was a collaboration with playwright Sarah Ruhl, closely hewing to her 2003 play, ... More Garment District Space for Public Art presents an exhibition by Tom KokenNEW YORK, NY.- The Garment District Alliance announced the latest in its ongoing series of public art exhibits, showcasing 26 pieces of drawn and painted works titled And, created by artist Tom Koken. Located inside the Kaufman Arcade building on 139 W 35th Street, the free exhibit is accessible to the public through March 27. And is part of the Garment District Space for Public Art program, which showcases artists in unusual locations throughout the year and over 15 years has produced more than 200 installations, exhibits and performances. We are committed to bringing thought-provoking works of art to feature through our Space for Public Art program and to draw more visitors to the Garment District, said Barbara A. Blair, president of the Garment District Alliance. Kokens incredibly detailed pieces truly brighten the space and are a must-see ... More Paintings of the Madonna featured at Allentown Art Museum ALLENTOWN, PA.- A special exhibition on the first floor of the Allentown Art Museum explores the influence of global culture on American art through depictions of the Christian figure of the Virgin Mary. Evolution of the Spiritual: Europe to America runs now through March 29, 2020 in the Museums Kress Gallery. This is the first in a series of American art exhibitions taking place through a multi-year partnership with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, made possible by the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation Initiative. A joint program of Art Bridges and the Terra Foundation for American Art, the nationwide initiative expands access to outstanding works of American art. AAM was selected by the Philadelphia Museum of Art as one of eight partners working collaboratively to engage communities across Pennsylvania with American art. We are so pleased to be partnering ... More Heritage Auctions' January Numismatic Sales exceed $68.8 millionDALLAS, TX.- Heritage Auctions announced Monday, Feb. 3, that its numismatic sales through the month of January totaled a combined $68,811,129 from its Signature Auctions held during the Florida United Numismatic Convention and the New York International Numismatic Convention conventions. Sales spanned U.S. Coins, U.S. Currency, World Paper Money and World & Ancient Coins only offered during the conventions. The sale total does not include Januarys weekly, monthly or private numismatic sales. We were especially pleased about the house and world records achieved across U.S. and World coins, said Greg Rohan, President of Heritage Auctions. These two events are among the largest of the year and were delighted to deliver powerhouse results to our clients. The worlds largest numismatic auctioneer garnered ... More Private collection of works related to the celebrated poet Lord Byron to be offered at auction in LondonLONDON.- Chiswick Auctions offers a very special private collection of works relating to the literary, political and military career of one of the most celebrated English Romantic poets, Lord George Gordon Byron (1788-1824). The collection was amassed by a European connoisseur and enthusiast over a period of thirty years and comprises a large selection of art works, books, iconic busts, Byrons military memorabilia and jewellery, amongst others. The sale offers a fascinating insight into Byron the writer, revolutionary and rake, and gives us a first-hand view of his life of extensive travels, romantic pursuits and military endeavours most notably his contribution to the Greek War of Independence. The works will be offered in a sale at Chiswick Auctions in London on February 27, 2020. Among the highlights is an exceptionally fine 'Order of the Redeemer' ... More Exhibition aims to highlight the originality of artists who live and work in sub-Saharan AfricaOSLO.- Alpha Crucis Contemporary African Art represents the final instalment of a series of exhibitions launched by director Gunnar B. Kvaran in 2005, exploring the art scenes in different countries and on different continents. The previous exhibitions have presented contemporary art from USA, Brazil, India, China and Europe, and now the focus is on Africa. The exhibition aims to highlight the originality and diversity of African artists who live and work in sub-Saharan Africa. The museum has invited André Magnin as guest curator. He has a long-standing relationship with Africa, and possesses a deep level of insight, knowledge and experience regarding various local art scenes on the African continent. Magnin was one of the main curators behind the legendary Magiciens de la Terre at Centre Pompidou and Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris in 1989, which was the ... More Tiffany glass exhibition on display at the Georgia Museum of ArtATHENS, GA.- Although best known for his work in glass, Louis Comfort Tiffany worked in nearly all the media available to artists and designers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A celebration of his works, Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection, featuring more than 60 objects and spanning over 30 years of his prolific career, is coming to the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia from February 1 to May 10, 2020. This exhibition, focusing on Tiffanys stained-glass windows, floral vases, lamps, and accessories, revels in the artistry and craftsmanship of objects from Chicagos distinguished Richard H. Driehaus Collection, highlighting works never before presented in a comprehensive exhibition. The exhibition is sponsored by the Harry and Caroline Gilham Charitable Foundation, Mark and Marjorie ... More Cheffins to auction art collection of influential businessmanCAMBRIDGE.- An important collection of European art put together by a successful businessman who helped shape fashion and the look of mid-20th century Britain is going under the hammer at Cheffins on Thursday 13th February. Cheffins Fine Art has been instructed to sell more than 50 Post-Impressionist paintings from the collection of the late Monty and Barbie Passes. Monty Passes, a warm-hearted family man who died in October last year at the age of 98, was a key figure in the commercialisation of jeans in Europe. Working in collaboration with Charles and Monty Burkeman, he launched a womens clothing manufacturing business under the label Charmont, which enjoyed phenomenal success after becoming the first and exclusive distributors of Levi jeans in Europe. Monty also invested in a young Vidal Sassoon, backing his first two hairdressing salons ... More In Iraq, where beauty was long suppressed, art flowers amid protestsBAGHDAD (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Hollow-cheeked and shivering slightly in jeans he had outgrown, Abdullah stood in an unfinished parking garage, transfixed in front of a mural whose meaning he was eager to decode for a visitor. See, the man in the middle, he is asking the security forces, Please dont shoot us, we have nothing, nothing. Abdullah said the final word twice for emphasis as he earnestly studied the black-and-white image on the wall. Drawn in charcoal in a socialist realist style, the mural, more than 12 feet long, showed a group of men walking forward and carrying their fallen friends in their arms. The men depicted were unmistakably Everyman laborers, with rough clothes and strained faces. Abdullah, 18 a former cleaner in a hospital who asked that his surname not be used because he feared retribution for his involvement ... More Loris Gréaud installs The Underground Sculpture Park at the Casa Wabi FoundationPUERTO ESCONDIDO.- As the Casa Wabi was being designed, Loris Gréaud was contemplating burying his sculptures to create a real underground sculpture park. After several years and many correspondances and meetings between the artist and the Casa Wabi Foundation, The Underground Sculpture Park was inaugurated there on the 1st of February 2020. Loris Gréaud has selected twenty or so of his iconic art pieces produced since the start of the 21st century, which have been buried forever along the natural paths formed within the gardens designed by Alberto Kalach as a continuation of the institution architecture created by Tadao Ando. Yet, this real sculpture park will remain hidden from the public: only benches marked with the anniversary date of the park official opening, in February 2021, will be placed once the vegetation has returned. ... More Alexei Ratmansky finds a new voice at New York City BalletNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Alexei Ratmanskys career is a tale of two choreographers: One, to a significant degree, looks to the past, producing meticulous reconstructions of 19th-century classics for American Ballet Theater, where he is the artist in residence. But at New York City Ballet, the years seem to melt off him as he makes dances for the modern day that unfold more like lines of poetry inspired by the dancers in the room: individuals, each of a different shape and aura. As movement flows out of them, you sense not just the persistence of their bodies, but also of their minds. His latest dance for City Ballet, Voices, which premiered at the David H. Koch Theater on Thursday night, is Ratmanskys first set to recorded voice, selections from Peter Ablingers Voices and Piano, a series featuring spoken recordings. Within this specific ... More Lihua Tung joins Phillips as Senior SpecialistHONG KONG.- Phillips announced the expansion of its 20th Century and Contemporary Art team in Asia with the appointment of Lihua Tung as Senior Specialist and Senior Director, based in Hong Kong. Ms. Tung will be a key contributor to Phillips 20th Century & Contemporary Art sales, and her role will have an emphasis on strengthening the companys active client base in Greater China. Ms. Tung joins Phillips from Christies, where she was most recently Vice President in the Post-War & Contemporary Art Department in Hong Kong. She initially joined Christies in Taipei in 2007 where she focused on client advisory and business-getting for the Asian 20th Century & Contemporary Art department. During her years at Christies, Ms. Tung played a key role in winning many top consignments in Asia. She was also a key participant in many ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, French painter and sculptor Fernand Léger was born February 04, 1881. Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (February 4, 1881 - August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style. His boldly simplified treatment of modern subject matter has caused him to be regarded as a forerunner of pop art. In this image: Fernand Leger, Deux femmes tenant des fleurs, 1954. Oil on canvas, 21 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches.
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