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| | THE QASHQAI WEAVERS, SPIRITED NOMADS (PART 1) | |
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High Collectible, 19th-century Qashqai (4' x 4'-6").
By Jan David Winitz, President & founder
Claremont Rug Company
OAKLAND, CA.- Weavers of highly desired antique Persian tribal rugs, the Qashqai people possess history and culture rich in both struggle and inspiration. It is the combination of these two elements which give their antique rugs their unusual sense of spontaneity and aliveness. In this first installment of a two-part series, I will relate some of the stories of the Qashqai (pronounced Ghash-gha-ee) and how their historical migration patterns and the seasonal perils that they faced influenced the art that they produced with their magnificent weaving. For a moment, place yourself in the mountainous region of the Zagros Mountains of Southern Persia. Just as the first rays of the morning sun appear over the mountaintop, a lone figure standing on a rise overlooking the valley below slowly raises a long trumpet-like instrument to his lips. As the surnay player issues an extended, high-pitched blast, the encampment is instantaneously alive with activity. Simultaneously, the entire community pulls its tent ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Museum workers assemble the Viking ship 'Roskilde 6' at the National Museum in Copenhagen on February 26, 2021. The shipwreck was found in Roskilde harbor in 1997 and has been exhibited in museums around the world. From June 25, 2021 Roskilde 6 will be part of an exhibition at the National Museum in Copenhagen. The ship measures 37,4 meters, making it the largest preserved ship from the Viking Age, dating from the year 1025. Emil Helms / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP.
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| A rediscovered Qajar painting from Bonnet House Museum Gardens leads Christie's auction | | Lightning strikes twice: Another lost painting by Jacob Lawrence surfaces | | Churchill's 'most important' painting sells for £7 mn | 
Detail of a Qajar painting depicting a Persian New Year, Norouz, procession from the 19th century, measuring 256x442cm estimate GBP 1,000,000-1,500,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.
LONDON.- Christies next sale of Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, which takes place on 1 April 2021, will be led by a recently rediscovered Qajar painting of the utmost importance. The painting, depicting a Persian New Year, Norouz, procession, was bought by the artist and collector Frederic Clay Bartlett (1873-1953) in the early 1920s in the US, to be hung in his studio at the familys winter retreat Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Bartletts were important collectors of French Impressionist and Modern art. His collection in this field was donated to the Art Institute of Chicago, where the 25 paintings comprise the Art Institutes Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection. As for the art collection at Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, it comprises works by Frederic Clay Bartlett and Evelyn Fortune Bartlett, as well as objects collected throughout their lives, creating a historic artists estate ... More | | 
Technicians install a Jacob Lawrence painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. Jeenah Moon/The New York Times.
by Hilarie M. Sheets
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- When a nurse living on the Upper West Side of New York City checked an app for neighborhood bulletins in the fall, she learned about the recent discovery of a Jacob Lawrence painting in an apartment a few blocks away. It had turned out to be one of five panels long missing from the artists groundbreaking 30-panel series Struggle: From the History of the American People, which was on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, right across Central Park. The name Jacob Lawrence rang a bell. She walked over to look more closely at a small figurative painting on her dining room wall, where it had hung for two decades, its signature barely legible. It was a gift from her mother-in-law, who had taped a 1996 New York Times profile on Lawrence to the back. The nurse, who had only glanced at the back while dusting, learned from the app ... More | | 
In this file photo taken on February 17, 2021 gallery workers pose with an artwork titled ''Tower of Koutoubia Mosque'' by Winston Churchill during a photocall at Christie's auction house in London. ''Tower of Koutoubia Mosque'' was sold for a price of 8,285,000 British pounds (11,590,000 USD, 9,577,000 Euros), during the Modern British Art Evening Sale at Christie's auction house in London on March 1, 2021. Tolga Akmen / AFP.
LONDON (AFP).- A painting of Marrakesh by Britain's famed wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, owned by Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, smashed expectations to sell for £7 million ($9.75 million) at auction in London on Monday. Churchill, a keen artist, took inspiration from the Moroccan city and painted "The Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque" oil work during a World War II visit in 1943. He gave the finished article to fellow wartime leader, US president Franklin Roosevelt. Auction house Christie's called it "Churchill's most important work". "Aside from its distinguished provenance, it is the only landscape he made" during the war, it added. The work eventually found its way into the hands ... More |
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| Colossal new works by Carol Bove now on view on The Met facade | | Contents of prestigious Chinese art dealership to be offered at Bonhams London | | Cowan's to present American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts Sale | 
Installation view of The séances arent helping I, 2021. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner. Image The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo: Bruce Schwarz.
NEW YORK, NY.- American artist Carol Bove (born 1971) has created four sculptures for The Met Fifth Avenue's facade niches. The Facade Commission: Carol Bove, The séances aren't helping is the second commission to be featured on the Museum's facade and will be on view through fall 2021. Made of sandblasted, contorted stainless-steel tubes and five-foot-wide reflective aluminum disks, the sculptures appear astoundingly lithe and supple, almost mercurial, despite their weight and heft-an effect Bove achieves by pushing her materials to their physical limits using incredible force. Projecting outward from the niches, the works confound perception. The exhibition is made possible by the Director's Fund, the Diane W. and James E. Burke Fund, Helene and Johannes Huth, and Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky. Additional support is provided by the John & Amy ... More | | 
A Very Rare Archaic Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel, Fanglei, Shang Dynasty. Estimate: £50,000 80,000. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- Bonhams has been instructed to auction the entire contents of the long-established London Chinese art dealership Roger Keverne Ltd in two dedicated single-owner Chinese art auctions to be held in New Bond Street, London. The first part will be held on 11 May and the second and final part will be held in June 2021. To be sold at no reserve, the two sales comprise over 800 lots celebrating the broad range of Chinese ceramics, archaic and later bronzes, jades, lacquer, cloisonné and painted enamel, and other works of art in which the distinguished London dealer Roger Keverne specialised for over 50 years. Roger Keverne is the editor of the authoritative book Jade published in 1991, and was a Governor of Compton Verney House Trust (one of the top three collections of early Chinese bronzes in Europe). He worked tirelessly to maintain the highest ... More | | 
Portrait of a Boy in Red with Dog and Hoop Toy, circa 1840.
CINCINNATI, OH.- On March 9 and 10, Cowans, a Hindman company, will present its American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts auction. The sale will feature property from the collection of Paul M. Bentley, a lifelong collector of idiosyncratic Americana and folk art, who, along with his wife Judith, built a one-of-a-kind collection which they installed in their equally unique home on the banks of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. There will also be objects from the collection of Noel and Kathryn Dickinson Wadsworth, who are among the original founders of the Auburn Fine Arts Museum, the estate of James A. Sanders of Evansville and New Harmony, Indiana, and the collection of Karen Tosterud. Notable paintings in the sale include Joseph Whiting Stocks Portrait of a Boy in Red with Dog and Hoop Toy (estimate is $10,000-20,000), and Portraits of Robert Henry and Sarah Ann Hodges Boorman, attributed to Rembrandt Peale (estimate is ... More |
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| Jane Lombard Gallery opens its first solo exhibition with new media artist Kristin McIver | | Exhibition at Nailya Alexander Gallery features the work of Alexey Titarenko and Pentti Sammallahti | | Diamond Schmitt completes Buddy Holly Hall in Lubbock Texas | 
Kristin McIver, Streaming Piece, 2021. Single channel video, acrylic. Ed. 1/3, with 1.
NEW YORK, NY.- Jane Lombard Gallery is presenting Impressions, its first solo exhibition with new media artist Kristin McIver, and her first solo exhibition in New York. The Australian-born, New York-based artist is known for her use of emotive language, light, and hyper-gloss materials to unmask the impact of consumerism on our identity, culture and environment. This new series examines post-truth in the face of climate change. Impressions is on view through April 3rd, 2021. McIver focuses on the element of water as rising sea levels is a significant climatic effect of global warming on the Eastern Seaboard. She uses water as a narrative device exploring different aspects of it in her videos, sculptures, and installation works. In tandem, by embedding the moving images with environmental data statistics, she addresses the manipulation of the publics perception on climate change in a digital society by way of misinformation. Th ... More | | 
Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962), Winter Evening (Tree in Snow), St. Petersburg, 1997 (detail).
NEW YORK, NY.- Nailya Alexander Gallery is presenting City of Hidden Lives, on view online Monday 1 March through Saturday 3 April. This unique online exhibition mingles the work of Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962, St. Petersburg) and Pentti Sammallahti (b. 1950, Helsinki) with verses by the Finnish poet Bo Carpelan (19262011) and the Paris-based poet, translator, editor, and zheng harpist Fiona Sze-Lorrain to explore the singular relationship between the photographer and the city, particularly during the season of winter. City of Hidden Lives explores the pervasive feelings of solitude and deprivation that people have experienced during this pandemic winter, and offers a space to share those feelings through photography and poetry. While both Titarenko and Sammallahti are renowned for their work in cities and regions around the world, from Venice and Havana to far-flung regions of Asia and Africa, both have long been ... More | | 
Christine DeVitt Main Lobby, Buddy Holly Hall. Image courtesy of Diamond Schmitt. Photography credit: Casey Dunn.
LUBBOCK, TX.- The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences, a new state-of-the-art performance venue in Lubbock, Texas, recently inaugurated its landmark building with a series of socially-distanced, limited capacity performances. Designed by Diamond Schmitt in association with Parkhill and MWM Architects of Lubbock, built by Lee Lewis Construction, and developed by Garfield Public/Private LLC, The Buddy Holly Hall is now open to patrons and will formally celebrate its opening this summer. It is West Texas' largest dedicated performance venue--bringing the city's vibrant performing arts community including the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Lubbock, and the Lubbock Independent School District, along with a variety of professional touring productions, under one roof. The new 218,000-square-foot Hall, which was ... More |
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| MEGATABS architects realize a Smart-City concept in Oberndorf near Salzburg | | Sotheby's March Asia Week sale series led by yard sale discovery | | Spike Lee makes HBO documentary on New York for 9/11 anniversary | 
Rathaus Oberndorf. Photo: Hertha Hurnaus.
OBERNDORF.- The new building of the Oberndorf Town Hall is conceived as the New Centre of the municipality to be a place of encounter equally for citizens, community representatives and employees. It is a modern and open citizen service centre, the spatial realisation of a transparent and citizen-friendly municipal administration based on a holistic architectural approach encompassing urban development standards through to the interior design. The three-storey building reacts sensitively to the homogeneous townscape. It responds to the urban planning alignment of its built environment and thus complements the townships village structure. In doing so it specifically re-enacts the townships typical features in its scaled dimensioning and the selected roof form, its clear and striking geometry conjuring up a deliberate contrast to the free space. The forecourt formed on the south side is designed as an encounter zone, meanwhile expressing with the recessed ground floor ... More | | 
An exceptional and rare 15th century Chinese Yongle Period Blue and White Floral Bowl heads to the auction block with a $300/500,000 estimate. Courtesy Sotheby's.
NEW YORK, NY.- Sothebys announced highlights of its upcoming Asia Week sales in New York, featuring a diverse array of Asian art spanning 4,000 years of history. Among the highlights are an exceptional selection of Imperial jades and cloisonné enamels from the Brooklyn Museum, sold to support museum collections; Vasudeo S. Gaitondes Untitled which will appear at auction for the first time this March after remaining in the collection of renowned American physicist, Robert Marshak and his wife Ruth for nearly sixty years, and more. All works on offer are open for viewing by appointment in Sothebys New York galleries beginning 11 March, with auctions taking place from 12 24 March. Manjari Sihare-Sutin, Head of Sothebys Modern and Contemporary South Asian Sales in New York, said: Following the success of our 25th anniversary sale in 2020, we are excited to return ... More | | 
In this file photo taken on February 09, 2020 US director Spike Lee arrives for the 92nd Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. Acclaimed film director Spike Lee is making a documentary for HBO charting New York's recovery from the 9/11 terror attacks through to the coronavirus pandemic, WarnerMedia announced March 1, 2021. Robyn Beck / AFP.
NEW YORK (AFP).- Acclaimed film director Spike Lee is making a documentary for HBO charting New York's recovery from the 9/11 terror attacks through to the coronavirus pandemic, WarnerMedia announced Monday. The multi-part documentary will be released to commemorate the 20th anniversary later this year of the coordinated Al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center that killed almost 3,000 people. "With over 200 interviews, we dig deep into what makes NYC the greatest city on this God's earth and also the diverse citizens who make it so," said Lee, who is producing and directing the project. WarnerMedia said in a statement the documentary would offer "an unprecedented, sweeping portrait ... More |
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The Haunted Visions of Otto Dix
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 'Unorthodox' director charms Berlin fest with robot love storyBERLIN (AFP).- "Unorthodox" director Maria Schrader on Monday premiered her sci-fi comedy "I'm Your Man" starring Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens as a robot ready to beat human rivals in the game of love. The Emmy winner's soulful futurist romp is one of 15 contenders for the Golden Bear top prize Friday at the 71st Berlin film festival, which has gone all-virtual due to the pandemic. "I'm Your Man" (Ich bin dein Mensch) sees Stevens, who is British, use his fluent German to play Tom, a remarkably lifelike Romeo custom-designed to win the heart of Berlin antiquities researcher Alma (Maren Eggert). A company that has developed humanoids for discerning lonely hearts asks Alma if she will test out the man-machine for three weeks and then report back on her customer satisfaction. Like any romantic comedy heroine, Alma is reluctant and sceptical ... More  Alcoa Aluminium Sculpture Award recipient signals hope on the horizon at Sculpture by the SeaPERTH.- The recipient of this years Alcoa Aluminium Sculpture Award at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe is being seen as a shining light of hope during the turbulent times associated with the coronavirus pandemic. The sculpture, Lite House, by Perth-based art collective MJ+J Studio is a 3m-tall structure made from aluminium and LED lighting. It will sit on the groyne on Cottesloe Beach during this years exhibition providing a sparkling beacon after sundown. MJ+J Studio is headed by Tony Jones OAM, one of WAs most senior and well respected sculptors, who worked in collaboration with his son Ben Jones and Angela McHarrie. The highly sought-after $10,000 award highlights Alcoas 17 years of continued commitment to supporting artists in Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe that use aluminium in striking and unique ways. Alcoa Australia President ... More  Vintage Posters sale at Swann establishes six auction recordsNEW YORK, NY.- Swann Galleries winter offering of Vintage Posters saw the highest recent sell-through rate of the houses large biannual sale in the category, This is particularly gratifying under the circumstances in which auctions are being carried out during the COVID-19 era. The sale covered a variety of different collecting areas Art Nouveau, ski, travel, food and beverage, and we set records on a number of different posters across the genres offered. Most impressive was that we sold 92% of the ski posters offered, which is far and away a company record, noted Nicholas D. Lowry, specialist for the sale and president of Swann. An artist record was set for H.A. Volodimer with Grand Prix dEndurance de 24 Heures / Coupe Rudge Whotworth, 1923, at $15,000; and Roger de Valerios Air France / Dans Tous Les Ciels, 1935, brought ... More  Hake's smashes house record with $2.9M saleYORK, PA.- Hakes Auctions, specialists in Americana and collectibles since 1967, set a new house record when their February 24-25 Premier Auction #231 cashed out at $2,888,163. Not only did the auction set a new monetary record for Hakes, it also achieved new highs for sell-through rate (98%), bidder volume, and the number of bids placed. Our goal in every auction is to give our bidders the best opportunity to purchase rare, high-caliber items from any collecting category that grabs their interest. Whether they are passionate about comics, baseball, original art, political, toys, historical items, you name it, they will find something in our auctions. We are excited by the bidder turnout and anticipate growing it more in the future, said Hakes president, Alex Winter. Two six-figure sales ... More  Taymour Grahne Projects opens an online solo exhibition by artist Johnny Izatt-LowryLONDON.- Taymour Grahne Projects is presenting A Table, with Things On, an online solo exhibition by London based artist Johnny Izatt-Lowry. A Table, with Things On is a series of 12 playful yet sombre still lives representing everyday objects lying on tables. Johnnys works build on an interest in interactions with familiar subjects and document the quotidian in an almost uncanny way. Despite the simplicity of what the series proposes, there is a sense of the surreal that pervades each piece as the subjects feel poised between our reality and a world of precise, awkward order. The starting point for each image comes from objects from in and around Johnnys house and studio. Each familiar subject is so intense and precisely positioned within the brown framing of the table that becomes the sole focus of each piece. An uneasy sense of space and perspective ... More  Soft-Firm's "Love Letters" installation on view in Times Square NEW YORK, NY.- Times Square Arts is presenting the final weeks of Soft-Firms Love Letters. On view through March 10, 2021, Love Letters is the winning sculpture of the 2021 Love in Times Square Design Competition, curated by Reddymade. Over the last several weeks, Love Letters has invited the public to participate in the installation by leaving their own love letters attached to the sculpture, creating a heartfelt public artwork in celebration of loved ones, lost ones, essential workers, New York City pride, and more in the heart of Times Square. Soft-Firm is represented by Lexi Tsien and Talitha Liu. To celebrate the closing of Love Letters, dancer Marielis Garcia will share a special sunset dance performance entitled Encantó on March 5th and 6th at 5:45pm. Inspired by the ways we convey care for ourselves and others, Garcia will incorporate Love Letters ... More  George Washington University helps digitize popular COVID-19 memorialWASHINGTON, DC.- In fall 2020, thousands visited the COVID-19 public art installation IN AMERICA How Could This Happen
, which took place just two miles east of the U.S. Capitol. People traveled from across the country to see personalized flags for those who had died. Today, the artist, Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, with help from the George Washington University and University of Maryland, has launched a digital version in an effort to continue honoring those who have died. While the physical exhibition has ended, the deaths from Covid-19 continue, Firstenberg said. We hope this digitized version of the art will provide national acknowledgement and comfort for everyone who has lost loved ones. The digital version of the flag installation includes dramatic and sweeping drone images of the exhibition, an interactive map ... More  Abbey Road studio doors sell for more than four times auction hopes at £17,500LONDON.- Ewbanks Auctions were celebrating after taking more than four times the expected price for the original foyer doors at Abbey Road, the worlds most famous recording studios. As the studio plan accompanying the lot showed, these were the main internal doors through which many of the leading names from every period of Rock & Pop, from The Beatles and Pink Floyd to Elton John and Michael Jackson, would have passed to reach the sound stages and recording studios. Most famously, this was the setting for The Beatles 1960s recordings with the fifth Beatle, their producer George Martin. Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band considered the most important album in the history of Rock and Pop The White Album and Abbey Road were all created here. In fact, The Beatles recorded around 90 per cent of all their material at the studios ... More  Swann Galleries announces Fine Photographs saleNEW YORK, NY.- Fine Photographs feature at Swann Galleries on March 11 with works spanning from the late 1800s to the 2000s with exceptional images from European and American masters including works by Alfred Stieglitz, Brassaï, Dorothea Lange, and Peter Hujar. The sale opens with nineteenth century pictorialism and early twentieth-century American photography including Francis Frith with Sinai & Arabia Petra, Jerusalem & Palestine, and Egypt & Athens, three volumes with 140 albumen prints, 1860s70s ($10,000-15,000); Julia Margaret Camerons Alfred, Lord Tennyson, albumen print, 1869 ($10,000-15,000); Alfred Stieglitzs Camera Work Number 36, 1911, complete with 16 photogravures ($15,000-25,000) and Camera Work Steichen Supplement, 1906, with 11 photogravures and 5 halftones after Eduard J. Steichen ... More  Beirut blast 'collapsed world' of Berlin film fest contendersBERLIN (AFP).- The Berlin film festival kicked off online Monday with a premiere from a Lebanese couple who had to overcome both Beirut's devastating port blast and the pandemic to bring their movie to the screen. "Memory Box" by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige is one of 15 films vying for the Golden Bear top prize Friday at the 71st Berlinale, the first major European cinema showcase of the year. Like Sundance this winter, the event has gone all-virtual as the global movie industry tries to keep new releases ticking over with entertainment-starved audiences stuck at home and movie theatres shuttered. "Memory Box" is the first Lebanese contender in the Berlinale competition in four decades. It is based on the true story of the discovery more than 30 years later of a collection of letters, notebooks and mixtapes Hadjithomas sent to a friend ... More  Boutique mud houses change fortunes of Omani villageMISFAT AL-ABRIYEEN (AFP).- Perched on an Oman mountain top, the village of Misfat al-Abriyeen has changed its fortunes by transforming mud-brick homes into boutique hotels, drawing tourists to a region famed for hiking trails and tales of genies. The village of 800 residents, situated on the dramatic escarpments of Oman's "Grand Canyon", opened its narrow streets six years ago to foreigners and locals seeking adventure in the deserts and green corners of the Gulf sultanate. Villager Yacoub al-Abri said it all started in 2010 when his uncle suggested they take another look at the mud houses that had lain neglected for years in the ancient settlement about three hours' drive from the capital Muscat. The owners had abandoned the centuries-old homes, fearing they could collapse, and moved to the opposite side of the village where they built ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Mental Escapology, St. Moritz 
TIM VAN LAERE GALLERY 
Madelynn Green 
Patrick Angus
Flashback On a day like today, French painter Berthe Morisot died March 02, 1895. Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (January 14, 1841 - March 2, 1895) was a painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. She was described by Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt. In this image: Berthe Morisot, Grain field, c.1875, Musée d'Orsay.
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