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Noonans to sell newly discovered 18th century gold 'Memento Mori' ring today
LONDON.- It was in late 2022 in the Vale of Glamorgan that David Nicklin aged 65, a retired civil servant was metal detecting with a friend using his Minelab Equinox 600 on a field that had been searched before many times. This time, however, it had been deep ploughed for the first time in 40 years after a potato harvest. After finding nothing but one old farthing, David decided to finally search around the edge of the field when he unearthed a gold ring at a depth of 3-4 inches. At first David thought it was a posy ring, but his friend noticed it had a skeleton in black enamel around the hoop. The ring which is in excellent condition will be offered at Noonans in a sale of Jewellery, watches and objects of vertu on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, with an estimate of Â£3,000-4,000. As Nigel Mills, Consultant (Coins and Antiquities) at Noonans commented: ... More

Single owner collection of Holy Land paintings to be put up for auction by Sworders
LONDON.- Sworders sale of Old Masters, British and European Art on April 4 features some very fine English watercolours from an English private collection. They include a painting from David Robertss famous Holy Land series that is guided at Â£20,000-30,000. Jane Oakley, head of paintings at Sworders, describes allure of the collection that was assembled over many years by a well-travelled private individual. It is always a pleasure as an auctioneer to handle a single owner collection. We gain a unique insight into the owners character and interests, and items that might on their own seem insignificant, make much more sense as part of a larger whole. This collection includes a variety of topographical works of places that were important to the owner most noticeably Israel and Palestine, but also northern France and ... More

Drum-and-bass is rising again, with Nia Archives in the spotlight
LONDON.- About 300 dance music fans were packed into a north London club late last year, waiting for Nia Archives, a jungle artist and DJ, to begin her set. Jungle and its successor drum-and-bass emerged in Britain in the 1990s, and club nights dedicated to these styles of dance music can often attract older crowds dominated by men looking to hear the relentlessly rhythmic sounds of their youth. But this evening was different: Young women were front and center in the crowd. As Archives, 23, sang over her own soulful tracks or dropped frantic remixes of rap hits with rumbling bass lines, groups of men tried to barge their way forward, but the women stuck out their elbows, held the men back and kept on dancing. Casey Forbes, 19, felt she had to stay at the front, she said afterward. Im a big fan of jungle music, she added, but theres not much ... More

Restoring glory of Angola's carnival, with a puny budget but much passion
LUANDA.- The singer stood in a rubble-strewn courtyard in one of the hard-knock neighborhoods of Luanda, Angolas capital, antsy as he got the performers in line for their final rehearsal before the big competition. United Af-ri-caaaa, a voice hummed over a loudspeaker before a percussion-heavy beat kicked in. More than a dozen young people facing the singer, Tony do Fumo Jr., swiveled their hips and arms and stomped their feet. The group of mostly teenagers, led by do Fumo, was preparing for its inaugural performance at Carnival, a celebration and contest for prize money that ushers in the Christian season of Lent. Pacing with the glare of a drill sergeant, he blew a whistle and waved an arm. The dancers froze. Another whistle and gesture, and they were back on beat, do Fumo bobbing along with them. The son of an Angolan ... More

For France's protesters, the streets are the ultimate stage
PARIS.- In large-scale theater and dance works, bodies moving in space have a momentum of their own; their collective power often feels like it could move mountains. Yet no number of monumental performances can compare to the enveloping force of tens of thousands of people, announcing as they did in Paris last week: We are the show. Street protests a time-honored French tradition are generally not for the agoraphobic, but on Tuesday, the crowds were the biggest on record this century. Frances Interior Ministry estimated there were 1.28 million marchers, while trade unions said there were 3.5 million. In Paris, the crowds were so large that some protesters branched off on a different course, along the Left Bank. The mountain the protesters were trying to move, for the sixth time in two months, was President Emmanuel Macrons ... More

Some of the world's most historic comic books leap to auction March 31-April 2
DALLAS, TX.- Heritage's latest Comics & Comic Art SignatureÂ® Auction, which takes place March 30-April 2, will rank among the auction house's most historic. This isn't the inevitable hyperbole of a media release, just mere fact, as this event counts among its essential offerings one of the most significant groups of key Golden Age books ever available in a single auction, especially at such high grades, among them Detective Comics No. 27, Superman No. 1, Marvel Comics No. 1 and a Batman No. 1 never before seen at auction. These books introduced us to the brightly-tightly clad men and women who fueled limitless fantasies and became immutable myths, the orphans and outsiders searching for truth, justice, maybe vengeance, always a better tomorrow. These are the pages in which our forebearers first met Superman, Batman, ... More

One-of-a-kind Banksy street signs lead Heritage's March 30 Urban Art event
DALLAS, TX.- In the 1980s and early '90s one of the most common discussions in the art world was whether or not street art, a.k.a. graffiti (a.k.a. urban art), belonged in institutions, galleries and private collections. The question focused on relocation: Would transferring a would-be temporary work from the "wild" to a clean well-lighted place have a neutralizing or even castrating effect on the work (if not the artist's intentions)? Could urban art maintain its original impact or credibility if it's displayed, bought and sold alongside more conventional studio-made artworks? Then came Banksy, whose explosive success changed the course of the urban art market. Which is not to overlook the importance of Keith Haring or Kenny Scharf or DAZE (or later, Shepard Fairey) to this discussion, let alone the most famous artist who ever made the crossover feel ... More

From music to writing, This is how you move on
NEW YORK, NY.- Sayre Quevedo had reached the end of a five-month affair with a married man when, in the middle of a snowstorm in the winter of 2017, he received a text from his former lover, asking to see him one last time. This particular whirlwind of a relationship, which they decided together could no longer continue, was very intimate and intense. I was like, you know what? OK, fine, Quevedo, a 30-year-old documentary artist in Brooklyn, recalled in a recent interview. And he came over and again, I work in documentaries and I record instinctively as part of my practice, and I just remember thinking, like, Oh, I would really like to remember this conversation. I would really like to remember this moment. To Quevedos relief, the man agreed to the unusual request. After not touching the recording for a long time (I couldnt bring myself to listen ... More

A24 achieves art-house supremacy with triumphant Oscar night
NEW YORK, NY.- Six years after nabbing the best picture Oscar for Moonlight, the hip, art-house studio A24 succeeded at Sunday nights Academy Awards on a scale that seemed to surprise even its executives, who entered the post-show Governors Ball with what-just-happened-looks on their faces. The studio became the first in the 95-year history of the Oscars to capture the top six awards at once: the four acting categories, director and picture. It won nine trophies in all out of 18 nominations with seven, including best picture, going to Everything Everywhere All at Once. That film, about a family of Asian immigrants who travel through a multiverse in their quest to find one another, was made for $20 million and grossed $106 million worldwide. The acting awards went to Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and ... More

A conductor arrives at encores! With a Jerry Herman rarity
NEW YORK, NY.- In 1969, musical theater composer-lyricist Jerry Herman achieved a Broadway milestone. With the opening of Dear World joining his earlier Hello, Dolly! and Mame he had three shows running at the same time. But the celebration didnt last long: Dear World was a flop. Over-revised because of conflicting artistic visions and commercial pressures, it didnt have the easier success of Hermans hits, despite its elegant, French-inflected score and Angela Lansburys Tony Award-winning lead performance. Other beloved shows would come later particularly the pathbreaking La Cage aux Folles, which in 1983 brought a gay love duet to Broadway but as the decades went on, Dear World became a curiosity rather than canon. That, of course, is what New York City Centers Encores! specializes in: brief revivals of Broadway ... More

'The Coast Starlight' Review: Strangers on a train
NEW YORK, NY.- A northbound trip on the Coast Starlight, a gleaming Amtrak sleeper, lasts about 35 hours. The train leaves Los Angeles mid-morning and delivers its passengers to Seattle late the next day. By contrast, The Coast Starlight, Keith Bunins play at Lincoln Centers Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater runs express, filling just a fraction of that time. A gentle, rueful play, directed with a steady and sympathetic hand by Tyne Rafaeli, it settles down among six passengers sharing a single coach. Narrow, nimble, self-contained, the ride it offers is as smooth as it is wistful. Because Bunin (The Credeaux Canvas, The Busy World Is Hushed) knows that any trip involves leaving something or someone behind. The narrative engine of The Coast Starlight is powered by T.J. (a jittery, ingenuous Will Harrison). T.J.s journey is the most urgent, and his secret, ... More