| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Wednesday, December 11, 2024 |
| | Conservation of the Ghent Altarpiece continues to reveal the unparalleled virtuosity of the Van Eyck brothers | |
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During varnish removal. Photo: © KIK-IRPA, Brussels.
GHENT.- The conservation-restoration of the Ghent Altarpiece (1432), the world-famous masterpiece by brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck, began in 2012 at the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) in Ghent. The project is now in its third and final phase, focusing on the upper panels of the interior: the Virgin, the Deity, and John the Baptist, surrounded by music- making and singing angels, as well as the panels depicting Adam and Eve. Thanks to the meticulous conservation work led by the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA), the breathtaking virtuosity and profound vision of the artists are brought back to life. The seven panels of the upper register transcend the earthly spaces depicted in the rest of the altarpiece, ascending into the celestial realm. To convey this divine splendour, the Van Eyck brothers employed unique techniques that appear nowhere else on the other paintings of the Ghent Altarpiece, such as gold and silver leaf glazed with translucent colours, and complex applied tin-leaf ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Visitor looking at the portrait of Gabrielle-Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet in Versailles: Science and Splendour at the Science Museum
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| Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. announces results of two online-only auctions | | A new look at Watteau: Exhibition at The Louvre presents sixty-five works | | Apollo's Dec. 15 Fine Ancient Art & Antiquities Auction delivers holiday selection of extraordinary treasures |
Canadian 1945 single-sided porcelain sign for Black Cat Cigarettes, graded 8.25, 49 ¾ inches by 47 ½ inches, considered one of the best signs in Canadian advertising sign history (CA$14,160).
NEW HAMBURG, ON.- A Carhartt Overalls single-sided porcelain sign from the 1910s soared to $28,320; a Peabody Overalls single-sided porcelain sign, also from the 1910s, rang up $18,880; and a 24-inch diameter White Rose Dealer petroliana sign brought $15,340 in two days of online-only auctions held December 7th and 8th by Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. All prices quoted in this report are in Canadian dollars and include an 18 percent buyers premium. All three of the abovementioned headliner lots were Canadian in origin, as were most items in the two days, and nearly every lot was authenticated by The Authentication Company. Internet bidding was facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com and MillerandMillerAuctions.com. The Dec. 7 Petroliana & Soda Advertising auction featured the Legendary Motorcar Collection and had 320 lots of soda advertising, petroliana, coin-op and advertising signs. The ... More | |
Antoine Watteau, Pierrot, dit autrefois le Gilles, vers 1719, huile sur toile, 184 à 155 cm, Paris, musée du Louvre département des Peintures © RMN - Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre) / Mathieu Rabeau.
PARIS.- The Louvres enigmatic painting par excellence. These are the words that the painter and writer Bernard Dufour used to describe Pierrot, long known as Gilles, by Antoine Watteau (16841721). Though this strange character, dressed in white from top to toe, cuts a familiar, even iconic figure, this is a work of absolute originality. From its history to its composition, from its format to its iconography, everything about this piece captivates and intrigues. Its origins remain unknown; the first confirmed mention of its existence only dates back to 1826. Interpreting this painting, inspired by the world of theatre and particularly by Pierrot, the most famous comedy character of this period, is also a difficult task. Thanks to recent conservation work carried out at the Centre for Research and Restoration of Museums of France (C2RMF), which has restored the painting to its former glory, the Musée du ... More | |
Roman gold ring with round bezel securing carnelian intaglio carved with winged centaurus, circa 100-300 AD. Weight: 22.51g Provenance: UK private collection; an old British collection formed in the 1990s. Opening bid: £2,000/$2,550.
LONDON.- Apollo Art Auctions takes utmost pleasure in announcing highlights of their December 15 Fine Ancient Art & Antiquities live gallery auction, which will start at 3pm GMT/10am US Eastern time, following a red-carpet morning session devoted exclusively to The Prince Collection. The afternoon event offers collectors a stellar selection of Ancient Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Viking, Medieval, Western Asiatic and other top-tier antiquities dating from the 50th century BC to 15th century AD. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available to remote participants through Apollo Live or LiveAuctioneers. Peerless provenance is the rule and not the exception throughout the 405 lots expertly curated for this sale. Many of the prized artifacts were formerly in such internationally acclaimed collections as those of London barrister Alison Barker (1951-2021), Mrs B Ellison, ... More |
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| The Metropolitan Museum of Art unveils design for new Modern and Contemporary Art Wing | | Tate Modern turns 25 | | Important Watches at Christie's totals: $10.9 million |
Exterior rendering of The Metropolitan Museum of Arts Tang Wing (view from the southwest corner). Visualization by ©Filippo Bolognese Images, courtesy of Frida Escobedo Studio.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Metropolitan Museum of Art today unveiled the design by architect Frida Escobedo for the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing that will create a dynamic new home for The Mets renowned collection of 20th- and 21st-century art. Escobedo is the first woman to design a wing in the Museums 154-year history, and the historic project will increase the current gallery space by nearly 50 percent, creating more than 70,000 square feet for the display of modern and contemporary art, while addressing accessibility, infrastructure, and sustainability needs across all floors and providing a wing that seamlessly connects with the rest of the Museum. Drawing inspiration from The Mets varied architectural styles, diverse art holdings, and setting within Central Park, the Tang Wing will add to the Museums rich history of advancing thoughtful, bold, ... More | |
Installation photography, Louise Bourgeois, Maman, Tate Modern 2000. Photo Tate Photography.
LONDON.- In May 2025, the worlds most popular museum of modern and contemporary art will turn 25. Everyone will be invited to a birthday celebration at Tate Modern from 9 to 12 May. The gallery will be activated through the day and into the evening with live music and performance, pop-up talks and tours, a drop-in making studio as part of UNIQLO Tate Play, and special food and drink offers, all taking inspiration from Tate Moderns free collection. Karin Hindsbo, Director of Tate Modern, said Tate Modern has made an incredible impact in just 25 years. It has exploded the canon of art history, transformed the publics relationship with contemporary art, and rewritten the rules for what an art museum can be. Our birthday weekend will be a wonderful chance to see what we do best and get a taste of where were going next and all for free! To coincide with the anniversary, a host of recent additions to Tates collection will go on display around the build ... More | |
In true Richard Mille style, the ultra-flat RM UP-01 Ferrari is both an astonishing technical achievement and an entirely new aesthetic for the brand. © Christie's Images Ltd 2024.
NEW YORK, NY.- Christies New York kicked off Luxury Week with its first live auction, Important Watches, on Monday, December 9, 2024 at 2PM. The sale saw exceptional results, realizing $10.9 Million and selling 97% by lot, showcasing strength across all levels with 89% of lots selling above and within their estimates. The top lot was a signed Richard Mille, RM UP-01 Ferrari Ultra-Flat No. 37⁄150, which achieved $1.4 Million. The sale saw vibrant participation, with bidders and buyers in the room, on the phones, and online. Clients came globally, with 43% of the bids coming from Americas, 24% from Asia Pacific and 34% from EMEA. Strong demand was seen for high-quality vintage timepieces as well as creations by independent watchmakers, including the two top lots of the day - both by Richard Mille - which each sold for more than $1 Million. The third highest price in the sale ... More |
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| Kunsthal Rotterdam celebrates the unprecedented power and boundless feminine creativity of iconic performers | | Ashmolean secures the acquisition of Fra Angelico's exquisite Crucifixion for the public | | Pamela Anderson's sensational Baywatch swimsuit leads exhibition on swimming's century |
Photograph of Maria Callas taken as Violetta in La Traviata. Photo: Houston Rogers © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
ROTTERDAM.- This winter, you can immerse youselve in the world of the Diva at the Kunsthal. The exhibition DIVA celebrates the unprecedented power and boundless feminine creativity of iconic performers who have been challenging the status quo with their bravura and ambition. With over sixty looks and costume designs by world-famous designers worn by people like Maria Callas, Josephine Baker, Marilyn Monroe, Tina Turner, Shirley Bassey, Cher, Elton John, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Björk, and Billie Eilish , the exhibition shows how these divas have used their performing arts to push boundaries and make a lasting impact on society. DIVA takes you on a journey that begins in the world of 19th-century opera goddesses and ends up in the contemporary pop and rock n roll culture of global superstars. Originally meaning goddess, the exhibition explores the significance ... More | |
Fra Angelico (active 1417; died 1455), The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and the Magdalen. Early 1420s. Tempera on panel, 59.7 x 34.2 cm. The painting retains its original engaged frame.
OXFORD.- The Ashmolean recently announced that it has successfully raised £4.48 million to secure the acquisition of Fra Angelicos exquisite Crucifixion for the public. The acquisition has been made possible thanks to lead donations from the Ashmoleans Chairman, The Lord Lupton CBE, and David and Molly Lowell Borthwick; major grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, and The Headley Trust; the generosity of over 50 major donors; and a successful public appeal. The magnificent work, which has been in the UK for about two centuries, was sold to an overseas buyer and was at risk of leaving the country. Due to the works value and importance to the nation, the Reviewing Committee on the Exports of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, which is supported by the Arts Council, recommended that ... More | |
Pamela AndersonZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo.
LONDON.- Pamela Andersons sensational red bathing suit from Baywatch, the first Olympic solo swimming gold medal won by a British woman, and a selection of eye-catching mens Speedos from the 1980s, are all revealed today as star items that will go on display in the Design Museums major spring exhibition on swimming. Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style opening at the Design Museum in March 2025 and with tickets on sale from today will examine our enduring love of water over the past 100 years: from Britains lido boom during the early 20th century, to the viral Mermaidcore trend of the 2020s. Other remarkable objects now revealed to be going on show in the exhibition include the banned technical doping LZR Racer swimsuit, one of the earliest surviving examples of a bikini, and a detailed architectural model of the Zaha Hadid-designed London 2012 Aquatics Centre. In total over 200 objects from around 50 lenders across Europe will ... More |
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| The Vancouver Art Gallery presents a timely exhibition revisiting experimental art from the former Eastern bloc | | Exhibition at Collection de l'Art Brut features the work of Cuban outsider artists | | Major exhibition revealing untold stories of science at Versailles opens at the Science Museum |
László Fehér, Aluljáró I [Underpass I], 1975, oil on fibreboard, Courtesy of Kiscelli Múzeum, Budapest, Photo: Courtesy Lászlo Fehér.
VANCOUVER.- The Vancouver Art Gallery will present Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s1980s, a major survey that brings together over 100 artists from six Central Eastern European nations: East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia. Spanning visual art, performance, music and material culture, Multiple Realities sheds light on the diverse experiences of artists as they navigated varying degrees of control and pressure from state authorities between the 1960s and 1980s. Organized by the Walker Art Center, this staggering exhibition offers a rare opportunity to witness artworks seldom seen in Canada. Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s1980s is an incredible opportunity for Canadian audiences to experience art from Central and Eastern Europe that is rarely represented in Canadian collections, or shown in Canada, says Anthony Kiendl, CEO & Executive ... More | |
Alberto Adolfo Anido Pacheco, LA AUSENTE (original drawing from the book of the same name), 1968, India ink and watercolour on paper, 33,5 x 25,8 cm. Collection de lArt Brut, Lausanne.
LAUSANNE.- The exhibition Art Brut CUBA takes us back to Cuba four decades after Art Inventif à Cuba was held at the Collection de lArt Brut in 1983. The earlier show was curated by Samuel Feijóo (19141992), a leading figure of Cuban cultural life he was a writer, poet, publisher, ethnologist, painter, self-taught draughtsman and adviser to Cubas Ministry of Culture. The 1983 exhibition stemmed from Jean Dubuffets wish to show, at the Collection de lArt Brut, works by self-taught Cuban artists in the collection of his friend, Feijóo. It featured pieces by more than 30 artists from Villa Clara, all of whom were members of Signos, the group founded by Feijóo in the late 1960s to showcase popular Cuban art and literature. But why is this particular country deserving of our interest once again? Because its insular nature, its history and its territory long isolated from the rest of the world for political and economic reasons make ... More | |
Visitor looking at the Clock of the Creation of the World in Versailles: Science and Splendour at the Science Museum © Science Museum Group.
LONDON.- Today, Versailles: Science and Splendour opened at the Science Museum exploring how the French monarchy harnessed scientific knowledge as a tool of power. As the seat of royal power in 17th- and 18th-century France, Versailles was renowned for its opulent palace and gardens, but it was also a cradle of scientific spirit. Developed with support from our expert advisor, the Palace of Versailles, the exhibition reveals the meeting of art and science in the court and showcases more than 120 fascinating objects, from the extravagant to the everyday, many of which have never been displayed in the UK before. The exhibition explores how the monarchs Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI encouraged scientific pursuit and readily drew on technological advances of their times. It shows how scientific knowledge was used to enhance France's prestige and extend its influence. Significant figures highlighted include the pioneering midwife Madame du Coudray who trained thousands ... More |
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Top 5 Auction Highlights | Petroliana, Advertising & Historic Objects | Dec 7 & 8 | Miller & Miller
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Smithsonian highlights the experiences and impact of Japanese war brides in new traveling exhibitionWASHINGTON, DC.- The experiences of the nearly 45,000 Japanese women who immigrated to the United States as wives of American military servicemembers after World War II are explored in the new exhibition Japanese War Brides: Across a Wide Divide from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). These young women left their homes to build lives within the complexities of postwar American society. Their experiences reshaped communities by challenging immigration laws and race relations. Japanese War Brides will debut at the Irving Archives and Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, in Irving, Texas, Dec. 14. It will remain on view through April 6, 2025, before continuing to tour museums and cultural organizations across the United States through 2028. Japanese War Brides examines the lives of ordinary women living in extraordinary times, women ... More Artpace announces 2025 Spring International Artists-in-ResidenceSAN ANTONIO, TX.- Artpace San Antonio officially announced the Spring 2025 International Artists-in-Residence. Our Spring 2025 Guest Curator, Jami Powell, Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Indigenous Art at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, has selected Laura Veles Drey (Houston, Texas), Anita Fields (Stillwater, Oklahoma), and Lorena Molina (San Francisco, California). The Spring 2025 Resident Artists will begin their residency on January 27, 2024, with a Welcome Dinner on Thursday, January 30, from 6-8PM. Their exhibitions will open to the public on Thursday, March 20, 2025, and will be on view until July 13, 2025. Laura Veles Drey is a visual artist born, raised, and based in Houston, Texas. Her artwork, writing, and performances are rooted in experiences with identity, histories, and generational storytelling ... More A group exhibition considers future gardens as embodiments for imaginative discourse and protestRIDGEFIELD, CONN.- A Garden of Promise and Dissent is the debut exhibition unveiling The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museums newly renovated campus and Sculpture Garden, and also spanning the Museums interior galleries. This intergenerational group show features twenty-one artists exploring the animation of the garden as a site of personal expression (poetics) and collective action (praxis). Traditionally, gardens are symbols of beauty and contemplation, but they also serve as stages for environmental stewardship, civic engagement, and rebellion. A Garden of Promise and Dissent is on view in The Aldrichs galleries from October 28, 2024 to March 16, 2025 and on the Museums grounds from November 17, 2024 to November 2025. The artists participating in the exhibition are Terry Adkins (1953-2014), Kelly ... More Tamar Mason's first solo exhibition with Pippy Houldsworth Gallery on view in LondonLONDON.- Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is presenting Seeing Shadows, South African artist Tamar Masons first solo exhibition with the gallery. In new embroidered works, Mason explores the complexity of rural life in South Africa, intertwining human and environmental concerns. Focused primarily on the history and landscapes of Mpumalanga, Masons home province, her works consider the impact of failing government services on local communities and the natural environment. They address enduring legacies of exploitation, championing the resilience, strength and diversity of those living in areas that are disproportionally affected by political corruption and ecological crisis. Memorialising tensions of past and present, Mason hand-stitches and beads narrative objects onto thick black fabric more commonly used in the production ... More The New York Public Library announces the Best Books of 2024 for kids, teens, and adultsNEW YORK, NY.- The New York Public Library announced its Best Books of 2024, a curated list of more than 200 recommended titles published this year for children, teens, and adults. For nearly a century, NYPLs expert librarians have been providing readers with their year-end recommendations, celebrating books that inspire a love of reading. This years lists were selected by committees and librarians who read hundreds of books across genres including romance, comics and graphic novels, poetry, literary fiction, and nonfiction. The books have been sorted into four categories: Best Books for Kids (100 titles) Mejores libros para pequeños / Best Books for Kids in Spanish (22 titles) Best Books for Teens (50 titles) Best Books for Adults (50 titles) The recommended titles can be found at nypl.org/bestbooks and are available to check out at branches ... More Clowns, canvases, and chimeras: A circus inside the museum wallsMARSEILLE.- A groundbreaking new exhibition at the Mucem in Marseille invites visitors to step inside a world where the borders between stage and gallery, performer and audience, object and artwork melt away. Curated by renowned director Macha Makeïeff, this immersive installation transforms the museums halls into a vast, colorful circus ring teeming with clowns, jesters, and intangible traces of bygone performances. From the moment visitors enter the imposing vestibule, they encounter a medley of fairground charms and theatrical whispers. Beyond this threshold lies a grand nave filled with a vivid array of art and artifacts, suspended above and parading before ones eyes. Paintings, costumes, sculptures, and stage props intermingle to create a scene that echoes both fragility and fantasy. Makeïeffs vision transforms the conventional ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Gabriele Münter 
TARWUK 
Awol Erizku 
Leo Villareal
Flashback On a day like today, American-Swiss painter Mark Tobey was born December 11, 1890. Mark George Tobey (December 11, 1890 - April 24, 1976) was an American painter. His densely structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosophically from most Abstract Expressionist painters. His work was widely recognized throughout the United States and Europe. In 1921, Tobey founded the art department at The Cornish School in Seattle, Washington.
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