| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Tuesday, March 30, 2021 |
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| | An online museum shows life during wartime | |
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Andrew Carroll works in his home office in Washington, where he is assembling an online museum, in conjunction with Chapman University, dedicated to letters from servicemen and women from the 18th century to the present, March 25, 2021. The new Museum of American War Letters is making a range of communications from battle zones available. Jared Soares/The New York Times.
by Colin Moynihan
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Blew him in half, absolutely in half. The voice on tape sounded detached, almost laconic, part of a time capsule describing a bloody day in a forever war that killed untold numbers of combatants and civilians. U.S. forces were stationed in Vietnam when Col. George S. Patton, the son of the famed World War II general, recorded that chilling message to his wife, Joanne, in 1968. As troops moved east of the Lai Khe base into an area called the Catchers Mitt, a lone fighter fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. armored personnel carrier, killing a gunner and grievously wounding another soldier. The tank commander is alive at this moment, Patton narrated the day after the attack. One arm is off at the shoulder, the other arm is off just below the elbow. The only thing that saved him was his flak jacket. Patton paused as an explosion sounded in the background, then went on to tell his wife, Its a long, hard war. That recording ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day A new debate about the private interior, its history and its future perspectives is urgent. With Home Stories. 100 Years, 20 Visionary Interiors the Design Museum Gent aims to do just that. In a captivating narrative leading visitors backwards in time, the exhibition highlights important societal, political, urban and technical shifts that have shaped the design and the use of the Western interior over the last 100 years.
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| Controversial Brexit Museum launches drive for donations | | Christie's announces highlights included in the Magnificent Jewels auction in Geneva | | Hired by the empress of art at Tehran's hidden museum | 
In this file photo taken on March 02, 2021 Pedestrians walk along a near-deserted street in the City of London on March 2,2021, as 20 Fenchurch Street, commonly known as the 'Walkie Talkie' looms in the background. AFP Photo.
LONDON (AFP).- A group of British campaigners have launched a drive for donations of money and exhibits for a Museum of Brexit as the controversial project has gained charitable status, a spokesman told AFP on Monday. The plan to create the museum was first raised by Brexiteers soon after the 2016 referendum which resulted in a vote in favour of leaving the EU. In 2018 organisers asked people to donate relevant items to collection points around the country. The museum has now been granted charitable status, meaning it will be regulated by the Charity Commission and donations can be marked up against tax, spokesman Gawain Towler said. The plan to open a physical museum is no longer a "pipe dream," since an unnamed supporter has promised a "reasonable donation" that means the organisers can look for premises ... More | | 
Formerly the Property of Maria II Queen of Portugal, an Important Mid-19th Century Sapphire and Diamond Crown, Estimate: CHF 170,000-350,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.
GENEVA.- May 2021 marks 200 years since the death of Emperor Napoléon I (1769-1821), and it is an extraordinary coincidence that this spectacular parure of sapphires and diamonds, from the collection of his adoptive daughter, Stephanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden (1789-1860) will be offered for sale at Christies Magnificent Jewels auction in Geneva on 12 May 2021. The nine pieces, including a tiara, one collier, one pair of earrings, two pendants and brooches as well as one ring and one bracelet will be offered as individual lots. A total of 38 sapphires originating from Ceylon were used to create this parure in the early 1800s. The collection also includes the important sapphire crown of Maria II Queen of Portugal, set with a remarkable Burmese sapphire in the centre. Napoleon I married Josephine de Beauharnais in 1796, who was Stephanies aunt. Stephanie was born on 28 August 1789, unfortunately her ... More | | 
The curator and author Donna Stein at home in Los Angeles, March 5, 2021. Diana Markosian/The New York Times.
by Elaine Sciolino
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- On the edge of a vast park in Tehran sits a neo-brutalist structure the color of sand. Inside is one of the finest collections of modern Western art in the world. You enter the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art through an atrium that spirals downward like an inverted version of Frank Lloyd Wrights Guggenheim Museum. Photos of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of Irans 1979 Revolution, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded him as the Islamic Republics supreme leader, glare down at you. A series of underground galleries awaits. There is nothing quite like the feeling of coming face-to-face for the first time with its most sensational masterpiece: Jackson Pollocks 1950 Mural on Indian Red Ground, a 6-foot-by-8-foot canvas, which was created with rusty reds and layered swirls of thick, dripped paint and is considered one of his ... More |
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| Exhibition pays homage to one of the 20th century's most influential artistic duos | | New Hong Kong museum will not show Ai Weiwei's Tiananmen photo: official | | Joe Bradley joins Xavier Hufkens | 
Oldenburg/van Bruggen, Dr. Coltello Costume-Enlarged Version, 1986. Canvas filled with soft polyurethane foam, painted with latex, 8' 8" x 5' x 1' 8" (264.2 cm x 152.4 cm x 50.8 cm). © Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.
NEW YORK, NY.- Pace Gallery is presenting an exhibition celebrating the collaborative spirit that animated Claes Oldenburg and the late Coosje van Bruggens artistic achievements and romantic partnership. Over the course of three decades, Oldenburg and van Bruggen created some of the most famous landmarks in urban and civic spaces around the world. Bringing together a selection of seminal works in sculpture spanning the full arc of their shared historyfrom early collaborations in the 1980s to their final works of the late 2000sthe exhibition pays homage to one of the 20th centurys most influential artistic duos, highlighting in particular van Bruggens vital yet underrecognized role in their collective oeuvre. In addition to sculptures, models, ... More | | 
This photo taken on March 17, 2021 shows "M+" (C), a museum of visual culture, currently under construction and scheduled to open later this year, in the West Kowloon Cultural District of Hong Kong. Peter PARKS / AFP.
HONG KONG (AFP).- A picture of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei flipping a middle finger in Tiananmen Square will not be shown at the opening of a prestigious new museum in Hong Kong, an official said on Monday. Newly built on Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, the M+ Museum aims to rival Western contemporary heavyweights such as London's Tate Modern and New York's Museum of Modern Art. The 60,000-square-metre (646,000-square-foot) venue has gathered perhaps the finest collection of modern Chinese art in the world thanks in part to a massive donation by Swiss collector Uli Sigg, and is finally set to open later this year after multiple delays. But its future has been clouded by Beijing's crackdown on critics in Hong Kong, including a powerful ... More | | 
Joe Bradley portrait.
BRUSSELS.- Xavier Hufkens announced the representation of American artist Joe Bradley. The artist will continue to be represented by Galerie Eva Presenhuber in Zurich and is also newly represented by Petzel Gallery in New York. The three galleries look forward to this joint venture and to supporting Bradley in the next stages of his career. Joe Bradley has developed a style of visual language that is fluid throughout both the art historical canon and the artists personal experiences. Bradley continually reinvents his work in his paintings, drawings, and sculptures, with a profound fluency in iconic modes of art-making that allows him to elegantly move throughout Abstraction, Minimalism, and the gestural mark-making of Abstract Expressionism. Yet it is his awareness of both internal and external influences that frees him to take such ideas and make them all his own, never rooting himself in certainty. To him, the ... More |
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| The Cleveland Museum of Art announces new acquisitions | | France's Musee d'Orsay adds Giscard d'Estaing to name | | Phillips' April Editions Auction to feature prints and multiples by modern and contemporary masters | 
Dido, c. 1525. Aurelio Lombardo (Italian, 1501-1563). Marble; overall: 51.7 x 49.8 x 8.5 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, 2021.2.
CLEVELAND, OH.- Recent acquisitions by the Cleveland Museum of Art include Aurelio Lombardos Dido, an exquisitely carved early 16th-century marble relief sculpture; a drawing by Giulio Romano directly related to one of the artists most important frescoed ceilings in Italy; Gustave Caillebottes Study of a Man with Hands in His Pockets, a rare drawing by the Impressionist master that greatly enhances the museums collection of 19th-century French art. Additional recent acquisitions continue to expand the CMAs representation of works by African American artists and other artists of color, including four screenprints by Barbara Jones-Hogu, Wadsworth Jarrell, and Amy Sherald, and four photographs by DAngelo Lovell Williams. Zilia Sánchezs Troyanas (de la serie Módulos Infinitos) [Trojans (of the Infinite Module series)], an impressively scaled modular painting, adds to ... More | | 
In this file photograph taken on October 13, 2020, a visitor walks near the clock in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. The National Assembly unanimously requested on March 25, 2021, that the name of the former president of the Republic Valery Giscard d'Estaing be added to that of the Musée d'Orsay, for which he had a "visionary" action. Ludovic MARIN / AFP.
PARIS (AFP).- One of the leading museums in Paris, the Musee D'Orsay, will soon carry the name of former president Valery Giscard d'Estaing who oversaw its creation, the government announced Monday. The transformation of the former Orsay railway station into a gallery, renowned for its impressionist and post-impressionist collections, straddled three presidents between the 1960s and 1980s. It was Georges Pompidou (1969-1974) who saved the station on the banks of the Seine from demolition by giving it heritage status and outlining plans for a museum. But it was the "determined work and engagement" of his successor Giscard that saw the project through, the culture ministry said in a statement. The museum was ... More | | 
Rashid Johnson (140640), Broken Men, 2019. Estimate $15,000 25,000. Image courtesy of Phillips.
NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips Editions auction on 20-22 April is set to be one of the largest in company history. Featuring 175 artists, spanning 414 lots, to be auctioned in an evening sale and three day sessions. The sale will include a breadth of material for collectors of all genres, including evening highlights by Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Louise Bourgeois, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Diego Rivera, Jasper Johns, Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall and David Wojnarowicz and day sale highlights by Henri Matisse, Frank Stella, Alexander Calder and Alex Katz. The final session on 22 April features a contemporary group of 21st century artists starting with Genieve Figgis and ending with Takashi Murakami. Cary Leibowitz and Kelly Troester, Worldwide Co-Heads of Editions, said, The demand for rare editions and works on paper remains as strong as ever. The strength of our April auction is a testament to the exceptional work of past, ... More |
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| Items signed by Jefferson, Einstein, Adam Smith and more to be offered at University Archives | | Career items from Beyoncé Knowles, Cher, Madonna & more at Julien's Auctions | | Exhibition at Friedman Benda unveils three new bodies of work by British designer Paul Cocksedge | 
Humorous letter that patron saint Albert Einstein wrote to members of a fan club in 1928, accompanied by a fine vintage photograph of the revered genius (est. $50,000-$60,000).
WILTON, CONN.- An exquisite portrait miniature of Thomas Jefferson along with two locks of hair (one of them Jeffersons), and a letter and photograph signed by Albert Einstein are just two of the superstar lots in University Archives online-only auction of rare manuscripts, autographs and books scheduled for Wednesday, April 14th. The auction will start at 10:30 am Eastern time. The catalog is up for viewing and bidding now, on the revamped University Archives website, as well as the platforms LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com and Auctionzip.com. Phone and absentee bids will also be accepted. Its just the second auction that will be conducted from University Archives new, 6,000-square-foot offices in Wilton, Conn. This sale is particularly strong in the presidential, science, foreign, and African American collecting ... More | | 
Whitney Houston's flesh tone chiffon Atelier Versace gown. Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Juliens Auctions announced today Music Icons, the world record-breaking auction house to the stars annual music extravaganza taking place three days on Friday, June 11th, Saturday, June 12th and Sunday, June 13th 2021 live at Juliens Auctions in Beverly Hills and online at juliensauctions.com. The initial lineup of auction headliners announced during this years Womens History Month celebration stars a whos who of trailblazing sheroes whose splendid artistry, ground breaking careers, and unprecedented achievements have changed the music industry and broken-down doors for the next generation of music icons who followed their extraordinary paths. Headlining this marquee of powerhouse female music icons will be a sensational collection of items from Destinys Childs GRAMMY Award-winning career. Over 100 lots owned and used by the R&B/pop supergroups most ... More | | 
Paul Cocksedge [British, B. 1978], Performance Cherry, 2020. Cherry wood, glass, LED. Table: 15.75 x 36.25 x 36.25 inches, 40 x 92 x 92 cm. Light: 13.75 x 27.5 x 27.5 inches, 35 x 70 x 70 cm. Courtesy of Friedman Benda and Paul Cocksedge. Photo: Mark Cocksedge.
NEW YORK, NY.- Friedman Benda is presenting British designer Paul Cocksedges fourth solo show with the gallery entitled Performance. The exhibition explores the processes of craft with three bodies of work that capture and express their theatricality in material form: Performance, Push and Excavation. Examining the relationship between maker and audience, and the idea of the outsider watching the craftsperson at work, each series is a vehicle for storytelling, drawing inspiration from and abstracting the physical process of making. The Performance series follows the centuries-old technique of glassblowing, one that Cocksedge has been interested in for over a decade. For this series, Cocksedge synthesized the ... More |
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Conservation Spotlight: "Guitar and Pipe" | Cubism in Color
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| More News |
 National Building Museum reopens on April 9WASHINGTON, DC.- On Friday, April 9, 2021, the National Building Museum will reopen after a 16-month closure due to restoration work and the COVID-19 pandemic. In its 41st year as the only U.S. cultural institution dedicated to the built environment, the Museum will once again welcome everyone to experience stories about the structures, interiors, and landscapes that we design and build. New offerings include an exhibition about a nonprofit architecture firm leading the way in designs for health, well-being, and justice; a memorial dedicated to victims of gun violence; the work of an architectural photography master; and a Visitor Center that introduces the public to the institution and its mission. The Museums exhibitions and the Museum Shop will be open from 11 am to 4 pm, Fridays through Sundays. Masks are required for all visitors at all times, and the ... More  Esteemed expert of European art to be named Toledo Museum of Art's first curator emeritusTOLEDO, OH.- Lawrence W. Nichols, TMAs William Hutton senior curator, European and American painting and sculpture before 1900, will retire this June after nearly three decades of service to the Toledo Museum of Art. A baroque specialist, Nichols joined TMA in 1992 and served as a member of the management team from 2011 to 2020. His time at the Museum spans the tenures of six TMA directors. It is difficult to imagine TMA without Larrys rare combination of erudition, collegiality and good humor, but we are delighted that he will continue to engage with the museum as its first emeritus curator, said Adam M. Levine, the Museums Edward Drummond and Florence Scott Libbey director and CEO. Larrys contributions to this organization through acquisitions, exhibitions and publications are second-to-none, and he is most deserving of the curator ... More  Oscars won't show in Hong Kong for first time since 1969HONG KONG (AFP).- The Oscars will not be shown in Hong Kong for the first time in more than half a century, its local broadcaster confirmed Monday, as doubts remained over whether Hollywood's top awards will air in mainland China. The ceremony has been broadcast in Hong Kong every year since 1969 by free-to-air TVB on its English language channel. But no channel will carry next month's awards. "It was purely a commercial decision that we decided not to pursue the Oscars this year," a TVB spokesperson told AFP. The decision comes after Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that China's Communist Party propaganda department has ordered its state-controlled media to play down the awards and not show the ceremony live. The cause is believed to be the nomination of "Do Not Split", a short documentary on Hong ... More  Soluna Fine Art opens an exhibition of works by Kim Keun-TaiHONG KONG.- Soluna Fine Art is presenting Kim Keun-Tais solo exhibition 「KOAN 公案」 in Hong Kong. This exhibition is a collaboration with Art Chosun from South Korea. This exhibition showcases Kims work with his approach towards the Asian wisdom and oriental philosophy. With organic earth elements, his work focuses on seeking the true definition of the origin of the material. In this exhibition, Kim embraced the enlightenment he captured from the Earth material, transformed it onto the canvas with his unique method of creation.「KOAN 公案」 will be on view until 30 April 2021. KOAN公案 pronounced Kōan/gongan, refers to a story, or a dialog that happened in the process of achieving enlightenment of the Zen masters in ancient times. It is a paradox that requires meditation to train the Zen masters to ultimately abandon their reliance on reasoning and push t ... More  Damon Reaves joins the National Gallery of Art as head of educationWASHINGTON, DC.- The National Gallery of Art announced today the appointment of Damon Reaves as head of education. In this role, Reaves will lead the museum's large team of art education specialists who create, organize, and deploy hundreds of free public programs for adults, families, children, school teachers, interns, and scholars. Nearly two hundred volunteer docents, a variety of art education publications, and online learning portals will also be under Reaves' direction. His experience and passion for building programs and relationships with communities will assist the museum in carrying forward its priority of public service to the nation and for all the people. As part of the art education staff of the Philadelphia Museum of Art since 2011, Reaves has worked in several capacities across that division, most recently as the interim senior curator ... More  Paul Laubin, 88, dies; Master of making oboes the old-fashioned wayNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Paul Laubin, a revered oboe-maker who was one of the few remaining woodwind artisans to build their instruments by hand he made so few a year that customers might have had to wait a decade to play one died March 1 at his workshop in Peekskill, New York. He was 88. His wife, Meredith Laubin, said that Laubin collapsed at his workshop during the day and that the police found his body that night. He lived in Mahopac, New York. In the world of oboes, his partisans believe, there are Laubins oboes and then there is everything else. He was in his early 20s when he began making oboes with his father, Alfred, who founded A. Laubin Inc. and built his first oboe in 1931. Paul took over the business when his father died in 1976. His son, Alex, began working alongside him in 2003. Oboists in major ... More  Jack Bradley, Louis Armstrong photographer and devotee, dies at 86NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Jack Bradley, an ecstatic fan of Louis Armstrongs who became his personal photographer, creating an indelible and intimate record of the jazz giants last dozen years, died March 21 in Brewster, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. He was 87. The cause was complications of Parkinsons disease, his wife, Nancy (Eckel) Bradley, said. Bradley first attended a concert by Armstrong and his band on Cape Cod in the mid-1950s. I never heard anything like that, he said in an interview in 2012 for a documentary about Armstrong, Mr. Jazz, directed by Michele Cinque. My life was never the same. Using a Brownie, Bradley snapped his first photo of Armstrong at another performance the first of thousands he would take, first as a devotee and then as part of his inner circle. He took pictures of ... More  A legendary sale and a dazzling glove highlight Kruse GWS Auctions saleLOS ANGELES, CA.- Kruse GWS Auctions, the world-record breaking auction house specializing in entertainment memorabilia, fine jewelry, master timepieces and Royal artifacts has announced highlight results for The Artifacts of Hollywood & Music auction which took place Saturday, March 27, 2021 in Los Angeles. The rare Elvis Presley 1968 Comeback Special Cherry Red Hagstrom Viking II guitar was among the most highly anticipated items in the auction and Brigitte Kruse, known in the industry as the most sought after expert auctioneer of Elvis Presley memorabilia did not disappoint. The legendary guitar sold for $625,000. The Hagstrom Viking II guitar was played by the King on December 3, 1968 on NBC Television. This marked the superstars return to live performance after seven years when his career was centered on the movie business. ... More  Master restorer of the Sistine Chapel dies aged 92ROME (AFP).- The chief restorer of the Sistine Chapel, who revived the "dazzling splendour" of Michelangelo's frescoes, has died aged 92, the Vatican Museums said Monday. "Master Gianluigi Colalucci passed away last night," the museums said on their Instagram account. "It is thanks to his courage and talent that today the colours of Michelangelo's Vault and Last Judgment appear in all their dazzling splendour," the message said. Colalucci worked on the Sistine Chapel from 1980 to 1994, removing centuries of dust and smoke that had dulled the vivid colours of the Renaissance masterpiece. "A sad day for the Vatican Museums and for the world of restoration," the museums' director, Barbara Jatta, told the Vatican's news portal, Vatican News. She said she had accompanied Colalucci for a private tour of the museums "only a few days ago," ... More  Curator Suzanne Weaver to retire in April after three decades of serviceSAN ANTONIO, TX.- The San Antonio Museum of Art today announced that Suzanne Weaver, its Interim Chief and Brown Foundation Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, will retire on April 16, 2021. Over the course of her illustrious 30-year career, Weaver has come to be recognized for her forward-looking vision and tireless advocacy for artists and their work. She has developed dozens of exhibitions on contemporary art, established programmatic series that have fostered community engagement, and played a major role in expanding museum collections with an eye toward diversity and equity, especially in the acquisition of works by women artists. Upon retiring, Weaver will move to Camden, Maine, where she and her husband own a home, and pursue several writing projects and her own photography. Weaver joined SAMA in 2016 as ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Mental Escapology, St. Moritz 
TIM VAN LAERE GALLERY 
Madelynn Green 
Patrick Angus
Flashback On a day like today, Spanish-French painter Francisco Goya was born March 30, 1746. Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (30 March 1746 - 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of late 18th and early 19th centuries and throughout his long career was a commentator and chronicler of his era. Immensely successful in his lifetime, Goya is often referred to as both the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. In this image: Francisco de Goya, The victorious Hannibal, 1771.
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