| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Tuesday, January 4, 2022 |
| | A Spanish mystery: Is a 'masked restorer' to blame for a church's botched repair? | |
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Restoration work on wood and plaster reliefs inside the Church of Santa MarÃa del Castillo, built around 1250, in the village of Castronuño, Spain, Dec. 1, 2021. Botched repairs and amateur restorations like those done on the 13th century Romanesque church have become a problem across the country. Ben Roberts/The New York Times.
by Nicholas Casey
CASTRONUÃO.- The Romanesque church that sits above the river in the village of Castronuño used to look like many others that dot the land: not too decrepit for a 750-year-old, but not particularly well-kept, either. Then in November, Mayor Enrique Seoane noticed something that gave him a shock and caused a scandal in Spain. In a photo taken by one of his neighbors, Seoane spied a seam of very modern cement that someone had poured into a decidedly ancient archway. It was an apparent homemade repair job to keep the churchs eastern flank from falling in. The work was done by an unknown masked restorer, the mayor told a local journalist in a story that soon spread across Spain. While this might conjure visions of a superhero secretly coming to the aid of an aging church, that is not how the mayors words played in Spain. Instead, they stirred up bad memories in a country whose small towns and villages had been scarred before by the eyesores these sort of vigilante repair efforts ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Pipilotti Rist: Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor, September 1, 2021-June 21, 2022. The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA.
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| Art Gallery of NSW acquires Spanish Baroque masterpiece by Jusepe de Ribera | | 717 gigapixel photograph of Rembrandt's Night Watch unveiled by the Rijksmuseum | | Rare abolitionist work acquired by US museum from Ben Elwes Fine Art | 
Jusepe de Ribera, Aesop c162531, oil on canvas, 125 x 92 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased in 2021 with funds provided by the Art Gallery NSW Foundation and the Art Gallery NSW 2019 Gala dinner.
SYDNEY.- The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney announced the acquisition of Aesop, an exquisite 17th-century painting by Spanish Baroque master Jusepe de Ribera. Painted in Napes, Aesop c162531 is a portrayal of Aesop, the legendary ancient Greek storyteller, and one of Riberas very first representations of so-called beggar philosophers. Spanish by birth, Ribera (15911652) moved to Rome at an early age and eventually made his home in Naples where he adopted Caravaggios practice of working directly from posed models, imparting them with a vibrant presence that showed all their imperfections with life-like realism. Purchased in 2021, the Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation funded the acquisition ... More | | 
Largest and most detailed photograph of any artwork.
AMSTERDAM.- The Operation Night Watch research team of the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands, has succeeded in creating an extremely detailed photograph of The Night Watch by Rembrandt. This 717 gigapixel image is available for viewing from today on the Rijksmuseum website. It is the largest and most detailed photograph of any artwork, and is four times sharper than the previous high-definition photograph of The Night Watch, which the Rijksmuseum published around 18 months ago. This means it is now possible to zoom in even further on minute, pin-sharp particles of pigment in The Night Watch. The photograph was made as part of the research conducted by Operation Night Watch. The researchers working on Operation Night Watch have once again succeeded in pushing the limits of what was thought possible. This exceptional achievement will make ... More | | 
William Gale (British, 1823-1909), The Captured Runaway, 1856. Oil on canvas, 49¼ x 37¾ in (125 x 96 cm). Monogrammed and dated lower right WG 1856. Courtesy the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.
LONDON.- Ben Elwes Fine Art confirmed the recent sale to an American institution of an important abolitionist painting that was exhibited at London Art Week in 2020. The Captured Runaway by British artist William Gale (1823-1909) has been acquired by the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine. In this 1856 painting Gale, a supporter of the abolitionist movement, depicts an enslaved woman captured by a bounty hunter as part of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The work is a rare example of abolitionist art from this period. Gale has gone to great lengths to set the dramatic scene, highlighting the hopeless plight of this courageous, captured slave, but with this, suggests that escape could be possible, comments Frank H. ... More |
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| Film captures Jewish life in a Polish town before the Nazis arrive | | James Garner's items from Maverick, Rockford Files, and Victor/Victoria head to Julien's Auctions | | ARoS Aarhus Art Museum announces new director: Rebecca Matthews | 
In a photo provided by U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museums shows, an images from a home movie titled: Our Trip to Holland, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, France and England, 1938, which shows a Jewish community in Poland a year before the Nazi invasion. A documentary based on a home movie shot by an American in 1938 provides a look at the vibrancy of a Jewish community in Europe just before the Holocaust. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum via The New York Times.
by Nina Siegal
AMSTERDAM.- Glenn Kurtz found the film reel in a corner of his parents closet in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, in 2009. It was in a dented aluminum canister. Floridas heat and humidity had nearly solidified the celluloid into a mass like a hockey puck, Kurtz said. But someone had transferred part of it onto VHS tape in the 1980s, so Kurtz could see what it contained: a home movie titled Our Trip to Holland, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, France and England, 1938. The 16-mm film, made by his grandfather, ... More | | 
Maverick cowboy hat.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Juliens Auctions, the world-record breaking auction house to the stars, will honor the illustrious life and career of the three-time SAG Award nominee, Academy Award nominee, and two-time Emmy Award winning American actor, producer and internationally renowned television and film star, James Garner, known for his iconic roles in the long-running and popular hit series, Maverick and The Rockford Files in Property from the Estate of James Garner, taking place live June 2022 at Juliens Auctions in Beverly Hills and online on juliensauctions.com. Born James Scott Bumgarner on April 7, 1928 in Norman, Oklahoma, James Garner got his start in show business as a model in high school and nabbed his first acting role playing a judge in a 1954 Broadway production of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial starring Henry Fonda, who became his mentor. In 1956, he received a film contract from Warner Bros. where he started getting notic ... More | | 
Rebecca Matthews spearheaded Denmarks European Capital of Culture in 2017. Photo: ARoS Aarhus Art Museum.
AARHUS.- ARoS announced the appointment of Rebecca Matthews as Director of ARoS Aarhus Art Museum. Rebecca Matthews spearheaded Denmarks European Capital of Culture in 2017 in Aarhus, recognised and celebrated for its exciting cross-artform programme which significantly grew audiences, tourism, investment and profile for the city, region, and country. Matthews brings significant leadership to the roll. She has held numerous positions in arts and culture, in the UK, USA, Australia and working across Europe - for the British Council as Director Global Partnerships, at Sydney Opera House and leading the Australia Council for the Arts international programmes including the Venice Biennale in 2003 and 2005. She was Director of the award-winning Goodenough College in London and most recently Director of Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark. ... More |
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| Outstanding December sales cap a year of great auctions at Michaan's | | Hermitage Museum exhibits fashion photography from the collection of the Still Art Foundation | | Bowie estate sells songwriting catalog to Warner Music | 
Banksys Girl with Balloon was the top lot in Michaans Winter Fine Sale. Purchased at a flash warehouse sale held by Banksy in London, early 2000s, the screenprint sold for the realized price of $174,000 at Michaans on December 17.
ALAMEDA, CA.- Michaans Auctions held two successful sales in December, capping a fourth quarter of highly anticipated events with phenomenal results. These are exciting times in the auction business, said founder and CEO, Allen Michaan. We are reaching more buyers than ever before, and our team is bringing fantastic property to them, from distinguished clients we are so proud to represent. Consignments from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Monterey History and Art Society were featured in late 2021, as was the estate of the San Francisco business leader and social luminary, Lois Lehrman. The astonishing range of auction property, offered in December and throughout 2021, spanned innumerable periods, cultures and categories. Banksys ... More | | 
Greg Gorman, Grace Jones in Hat, Los Angeles, 1991 © Greg Gorman.
MOSCOW.- The display tells the story of fashion photography from the second half of the 20th century onwards and acquaints the viewer with the main motifs in the contemporary presentation of fashion through the example of works from the collection of the Still Art Foundation. The display features original prints from Erwin Blumenfeld, Horst P. Horst, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin that have already become classics. As Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, observes: The Hermitage concerns itself a lot with the history of costume (that is to say, fashion) and likes to hold exhibitions of photography. Today those tendencies have come together with the aid of a splendid collection and a very meticulous selection of iconic images. I am very grateful to the Hermitage for this collaboration which has provided the opportunity to show in my home city and in its m ... More | | 
File photo of the lightning bolt jumpsuit designed by Freddie Burretti that David Bowie wore in 1973, on display in the exhibit David Bowie Is, at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, Feb. 21, 2018. Vincent Tullo/The New York Times.
by Ben Sisario
NEW YORK, NY.- David Bowies estate has sold his entire songwriting catalog to Warner Music, including classics like Space Oddity, Lets Dance and Heroes, in the latest blockbuster deal for music rights. Warners music publishing division, Warner Chappell, announced the agreement on Monday, saying that it encompassed Bowies entire corpus as a songwriter, from the material on his 1967 debut album, David Bowie, to his final album, Blackstar, released just before Bowies death in 2016 at age 69. The deal, for more than 400 songs, also includes soundtrack music; the material for Bowies short-lived band Tin Machine from the late 1980s and early 90s; and other works. The price ... More |
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| Academy Art Museum opens three new exhibitions | | Singapore International Festival of Art 2022 is back, helmed by festival director, Natalie Hennedige | | Richard Leakey, Kenyan fossil hunter and conservationist, dies at 77 | 
From the exhibition Werner Drewes Retrospective: Werner Drewes - Werner Drewes, Balancing Units on Mauve, 1984 (detail), Oil, Collection of Karen Drewes Seibert, DrewesFineArt.com
EASTON, MD.- The Academy Art Museum announces three new exhibitions. Werner Drewes Retrospective and A More Abundant Life: WPA Artists from AAMS Permanent Collection and Beyond are open through March 2, 2022. Also opening is Moveable Image: Video Art by Collis/Donadio, Shala Miller and Rachel Schmidt. This video installation is open January 11 - March 6, 2022. This exhibition brings together more than 65 of Werner Drewess (b. 1899, Canig, Germany; d. 1985, Reston, VA) fine prints, paintings, and watercolors made over the course of his career. Drewes was a prolific artist who studied at the Bauhaus in the early years of his career and later emigrated to the United States to escape the rise of the Nazi regime. A master printmaker, Drewes studied at Atelier 17 and taught at the Brooklyn Museum as part of a Works Progress Administration ... More | | 
Natalie Hennedige. Photo: Tuckys Photography, Courtesy of Arts House Limited.
SINGAPORE.- Appointed as the Festival Director for SIFA 2022-2024, Natalie Hennedige is the Artistic Director of Cake, a contemporary performance company presenting progressive works at the intersection of theatre and a range of disciplines. As a performance director, Hennedige explores contemporary issues through highly constructed heightened worlds with collaborators from diverse artistic disciplines and cultural backgrounds. Hennedige is a recipient of the National Arts Councils Young Artist Award (2007) and the JCCI Singapore Foundation Culture Award (2010). Helming the direction for SIFA 2022-2024, Natalie has defined a threeyear arc intended to bring focus to performance & creation in the physical and online space, around the recurring title of The Anatomy of Performance. ● Become a platform for originality that showcases Singapores artists and original productions; ● Creating a meaningful multi-national dynamic withi ... More | | 
Richard Leakey at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y., on May 21, 2012. Uli Seit/The New York Times.
by Alyssa Lukpat and Christine Chung
NEW YORK, NY.- Richard Leakey, a Kenyan paleoanthropologist and fossil hunter whose discoveries of ancient human skulls and skeletons helped cement Africas place as the cradle of humanity, died Sunday in Kenya. He was 77. President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya announced the death in a statement but did not specify a cause. Leakey died at his home outside Nairobi, said professor Lawrence Martin, director of the Turkana Basin Institute at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York; Leakey was its founder. Leakeys parents, Louis and Mary Leakey, were towering figures in paleontology, but Richard was initially determined to steer clear of his parents field, finding work instead as a safari guide, before eventually, and perhaps inevitably, succumbing to fossil fever. A turning point came on a flight in 1967, when he looked down over ... More |
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Françoise Gilot Studio Visit: A life with Passion | Christie's
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| More News |
 'Mrs. Doubtfire' on Broadway is pausing to avoid closingNEW YORK, NY.- In a startling illustration of the financial damage a resurgent pandemic is causing on Broadway, the producer of a new musical adaptation of Mrs. Doubtfire has decided to close down his show for nine weeks, saying he sees no other way to save the production. Kevin McCollum, a veteran Broadway producer whose previous credits include Rent and Avenue Q, said he would close the musical comedy beginning Jan. 10, with a plan to reopen March 14. The move will cost 115 people their jobs for that period; McCollum said he is committed to rehiring those who want to return. My job is to protect the jobs long-term of those who are working on Mrs. Doubtfire, and this is the best way I can do that today, he said in an interview. I cant just sit idly by when theres a solution, albeit unprecedented and painful. I cant guarantee anything, but at this moment this is the most prudent thing I ... More  Amid omicron, the Met Opera opens a Weimar 'Rigoletto'NEW YORK, NY.- Although a surge of coronavirus cases, driven by the spread of the omicron variant, has taken a profound toll on live performance in New York, the Metropolitan Opera has not yet canceled a performance. The company was so determined not to lose the premiere of its new production of Giuseppe Verdis Rigoletto that at the final dress rehearsal, on Tuesday, everyone onstage wore a medical mask. These precautions, and perhaps some luck, paid off: The premiere took place as planned on New Years Eve in front of a sizable audience. And this was a compelling new Rigoletto marking Bartlett Shers eighth production for the Met since his debut in 2006. If shifting the operas setting from Renaissance Italy to 1920s Berlin was not entirely convincing, this was still a detailed, dramatic staging, full of insights into the characters. The chorus and orchestra excelled under the ... More  Under the Radar theater festival canceled as omicron surgesNEW YORK, NY.- As a surge of coronavirus cases driven by the omicron variant takes a growing toll on live performance, the Public Theater on Friday announced it would cancel its Under the Radar festival, originally scheduled to begin on Jan. 12. In a statement, the theater cited multiple disruptions related to the rapid community spread of the omicron variant, including effects on staff availability, cancellations by artists and audience members, flight interruptions and visa processing delays. Mark Russell, the festivals director, said in a video interview that his team had worked on plans to streamline Under the Radar the Publics annual showcase for experimental work, and one of several New York festivals that have formed around the Association of Performing Arts Professionals conference so that it could proceed despite the surge. But on Thursday morning, Russell said, he took ... More  Saudi Arabia's first biennale, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, opens to the publicDIRIYAH.- Diriyah Biennale Foundation presents Saudi Arabias first contemporary art biennale, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, which opened 11 December 2021 in the JAX district of Diriyah. Featuring more than 60 acclaimed artists from Saudi Arabia and around the world, the Biennale showcases work in a wide variety of mediums, from site-specific commissions to celebrated pieces by leading contemporary artists. Serving as a platform for global dialogue and exchange, the Biennale cultivates an interactive art experience by bringing together Saudi and international artists in a celebration of contemporary culture, and an accessible and engaging platform for all. The inaugural edition of the Biennale is curated under the leadership of Philip Tinari (Director and Chief Executive of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, China), and supported by a team of international ... More  The Exhibitionists: A History of Sydney's Art Gallery of New South WalesSYDNEY.- Its a surprising fact that this is the first published history of Sydneys unique Art Gallery of New South Wales. In 2021, as it celebrates its 150th anniversary, this has been more than rectified with the publication of The Exhibitionists, a page-turning, bold and painstakingly researched account of our state art museum. Generously illustrated, The Exhibitionists not only tells the story of the people and art that have made the Art Gallery what it is today, it is also a social history of the city and country where it is located. Head archivist Steven Miller, who has a 30-year association with the Art Gallery, is uniquely qualified as a guide through this colourful cultural landscape. Mapping the highs and lows of the Art Gallerys unwavering commitment to bringing art to the people of Australia, Miller reveals the behind-the-scenes dramas, as well as the public debates in parliament, that have ... More  Boise Art Museum presents "Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea "BOISE, ID.- Ideas about the American West, both in popular imagination and in commonly accepted historical narratives, are often based on a past that never was, and fail to take into account important events that actually occurred. The exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, examines the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of this region. This exhibition presents an opportunity to examine previous misconceptions, question racist clichés and highlight the multiple communities and histories that continue to form this iconic region of the United States. Working in various media, from painting and sculpture to photography and mixed media, the artists featured in the exhibition bring a nuanced and multifaceted history into view. Among the many voices and communities highlighted in this exhibition, Many Wests ... More  Exhibition makes visible the roots of Southern hip-hop culture HOUSTON, TX.- Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is presenting the groundbreaking exhibition The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse. Recently called one of the best exhibitions of the year and a tour de force by the Los Angeles Times, The Dirty South makes visible the roots of Southern hip-hop culture and reveals how the aesthetic traditions of the African American South have shaped visual art and musical expression over the last 100 years. Echoing from New York to Los Angeles in the 1980s, the musical genre of hip-hop became, for many, the empowering language of the voiceless. In the mid-1990s, André 3000 of the Atlanta-based duo OutKast, proclaimed, The South got something to say! André's clarion call shone a light into a centuries-old repository of rich Southern aesthetic traditions rooted in the fraught histories of this ... More  Orange County Museum of Art appoints new Chief Curator and Director of Learning and EngagementCOSTA MESA, CA.- The Orange County Museum of Art announced today the appointment of Courtenay Finn as Chief Curator and Meagan Burger as Director of Learning and Engagement. In their individual roles, Burger and Finn will help oversee and manage the museums public-facing offerings including engaged learning, public programs, and exhibitions. Burger assumed her role in October of this fall and Finn will join the team in March of 2022. Both come to the museum as it prepares to open a new building, designed by Morphosis Architects under the direction of Pritzker-prize winner Thom Mayne and Partner-in-Charge Brandon Welling, in October of 2022. "Courtenay and Meagan are wonderful additions to OCMAs leadership whose work and impact will reflect our vision for a dynamic, engaged and diverse museum of the 21st Century, says CEO and Director ... More  Anna Laudel presents an exhibition of works by Emin Mete ErdoğanISTANBUL.- Anna Laudel showcases Emin Mete Erdoğans solo exhibition titled AD 4.000.000.000 from December 9, 2021 to February 3, 2022. Renowned for creating a sense of eternity and integrity in his works, the artist brings together a selection produced in different techniques, including sculpture, painting and relief works. The exhibition, the name of which gives the impression that the past is being referred to, actually focuses on the present and tries to understand the period the artist is living in. Erdoğan emphasises the fact that people define the present according to their own perceptions of the past, and suggests that history will change depending on the point a person sees his or her beginning. Asking himself the question Where should I start my personal beginning?, the artist lays the foundation of this exhibition and invites art lovers to take part in a time travel that ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Le Design Pour Tous 
New Galleries of Dutch and Flemish Art 
Cassi Namoda 
Anke Eilergerhard
Flashback On a day like today, American painter Marsden Hartley was born January 04, 1877. Marsden Hartley (January 4, 1877 - September 2, 1943) was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley was born in Lewiston, Maine, where his English parents had settled. He was the youngest of nine children. In this image: The Iron Cross, 1915, oil on canvas, 47 1/4 x 47 1/4 in. Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis. University purchase, Bixby Fund, 1952.
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