| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Wednesday, January 1, 2020 |
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| | Visit these magical watercolours at the turn of the year - Turner in January 2020 | |
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J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851), The Falls of Clyde, 1801 (detail). Watercolour over pencil, with some scraping out on two sheets of paper joined and laid down, 41.3 x 52.1 cm. Collection: Scottish National Gallery, Henry Vaughan Bequest 1900 Photo: © National Galleries of Scotland | Antonia Reeve.
EDINBURGH.- In 1900, collector Henry Vaughan made an exceptional bequest to the National Galleries of Scotland a set of 38 radiant watercolours by Joseph Mallord William Turner, giving a gift to the nation to be enjoyed for generations. This annual exhibition has become a celebrated tradition and a feature to look forward to on New Years Day and the month of January for locals and tourists alike. The relatively fleeting glimpse is a joy and a privilege as these paintings are by one of Britains most celebrated artists and are in such spectacular condition due to the conditions of the bequest. In 2020, this much-loved annual exhibition is supported by players of Peoples Postcode Lottery for the seventh year. In addition to the 38 bequeathed works, this year the exhibition will also feature a very fine watercolour on long loan to the Gallery from a private collection. Virginia Water is one of a pair of views of th ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Revelers at Times Square during the New Year's celebration on January 1, 2020 in New York City. People began celebrating New Year's Eve at Times Square in 1904, in 1907 the New Year's Eve Ball made its first descent from the flagpole at One Times Square. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images/AFP
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 | | Barbara Testa dies at 91; Her discovery rocked the literary world | | What's for Dinner? Galerie Gmurzynska opens ground floor expansion at its New York location | | Man charged with 'Picasso' art attack in London: police | 
A photo provided by Laura Testa-Reyes of an edition of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" that is based on the author's original handwritten manuscript. Laura Testa-Reyes via The New York Times.
by Katharine Q. Seelye
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Lots of people do it search through their attics in hopes of finding something valuable. But Barbara Testa found more than she could have imagined. In her grandfathers old steamer trunk, she came across a manuscript. And not just any old manuscript. It turned out to be half of a draft of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, one of the great American novels. Scholars had been trying to find it for decades. Testa was an anonymous librarian in Hollywood. But her finding, in 1990, catapulted her into the history books as the linchpin in the reunification of the first and second halves of the draft of Mark Twains classic novel. Testa died Dec. 16 at her home in ... More | | 
Arman, Garbage New York, 1969. Accumulation of refuse embedded in polyester inside aluminum trash can, 26.75 x 20.75 x 20,75 cm.
NEW YORK, NY.- Whats for Dinner is the inaugural exhibition of Galerie Gmurzynskas ground floor expansion at its New York location on 78th Street and Madison Avenue. The exhibition spans the 20th century and its movements, a unique journey through the artistic languages that have characterized the relationship between art and food, including artists, among others: Arman - Donald Baechler - Rudolf Bauer - Georges Braque - Will Cotton - Sonia Delaunay - Anh Duong - James Ensor - Robert Indiana - Wifredo Lam - Kazimir Malevich - Joan Miró - Louise Nevelson - Richard Pettibone - Jean Pigozzi - Otto Piene - Arnulf Rainer - Mel Ramos - Alexander Rodchenko - Antonio Saura - Victor Servranckx - Kurt Schwitters - David Smith - Daniel Spoerri - Wayne Thiebaud - Georges Vantongerloo - Theo van Doesburg - Bart van ... More | | 
People walk past the Tate Modern gallery in central London on August 5, 2019. Tolga Akmen / AFP.
LONDON (AFP).- Police in London on Tuesday said a man was charged with criminal damage after reports of an attack on a Picasso painting at the Tate Modern art gallery. The Metropolitan Police said a 20-year-old man from northwest London appeared in court on Monday and was remanded in custody until another hearing on January 30. No other details were released, other than the incident happened on Saturday. The gallery also did not specify the work in question but said the suspect was "swiftly apprehended" and that conservation experts were assessing the artwork. British media identified the work as Picasso's "Bust of a Woman", an oil painting depicting the artist's lover Dora Maar. He painted it in Paris in 1944 during the final days of the Nazi occupation. The Daily Telegraph said the painting was torn but there was no immediate confirmation. ... More |
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| | Bangladesh artists sorry for dog-collar feminist stunt | | Exhibiting galleries and curated spaces announced for London Art Fair 2020 | | Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announces new acquisitions by female artists | 
According to a police statement, the duo explained that they were re-enacting "From the Portfolio of Doggedness", one of a series of feminist art performances staged in Vienna in 1968.
DHAKA (AFP).- Two Bangladeshi artists who feature in viral videos of a man being led in the street on a dog leash have apologised for offending the country's "culture" after being summoned by police. Videos of Afsana Shejuty and Tutul Chowdhury's stunt -- a remake of a landmark 1968 feminist performance -- were shared hundreds of thousands of times on social media and drew thousands of negative comments. In the footage, Shejuty, a student at the Dhaka University fine arts institute, is seen leading the near-naked Chowdhury down a busy street in the capital. Police said they summoned the two on Sunday following complaints. According to a police statement, the duo explained that they were re-enacting "From the Portfolio of Doggedness", one of a series of feminist art performances staged in Vienna in 1968. "They expressed ... More | | 
Roy Lichtenstein, Modern Head no. 2 (From the Modern Head Series), 1970. Original lithograph and line cut with embossing. Courtesy of Fairhead Fine Art.
LONDON.- London Art Fair returns from 22-26 January 2020, bringing museum-quality modern and contemporary art to the capital. The Fair connects the best galleries from around the world with seasoned and aspiring collectors looking to acquire exceptional works, from both internationally renowned artists and emerging artists breaking new ground. The Fair also provides expert insight into the contemporary art market through its talks, tours, screening programme and critically-acclaimed curated sections, including Art Projects, Photo50 and Dialogues. London Art Fair continues to champion regional collections through its annual museum partnership, which this year invites Southampton City Art Gallery to showcase their outstanding modern British and contemporary art. Last year London Art Fair launched Platform, a new section focusing on a single theme or discipline. ... More | | 
Amy Sherald, Precious jewels by the sea, 2019. Oil on canvas, 120 x 108 x 2 ½ in. © Amy Sherald. Image courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Joseph Hyde.
BENTONVILLE, ARK.- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announces new acquisitions to the museums permanent collection--all by contemporary female artists, including Amy Sherald, Marie Watt, Lorraine OGrady, and Dyani White Hawk. These acquisitions demonstrate Crystal Bridges commitment to developing an inclusive American art collectionand exhibition program, said Austen Barron Bailly, chief curator, Crystal Bridges. We made great strides in 2019 by organizing and presenting exhibitions that featured artists from a wide range of backgrounds, including female artists of color such as Amy Sherald; Men of Steel, Women of Wonder; and Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices 1950s to Now. Looking ahead to a new decade, we are excited to continue to highlight the ... More |
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| | Jimmy Iovine knows music and tech. Here's why he's worried | | Gertrude Himmelfarb, conservative historian of ideas, dies at 97 | | Neil Innes, a master of musical humor, is dead at 75 | 
Jimmy Iovine, in Los Angeles, Dec. 19, 2019, is the veteran music producer and record executive who partnered with .Dr. Dre on Beats Electronics and helped launch Apple Music. Brian Guido/The New York Times.
by Ben Sisario
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- The biggest story in music over the last decade was the industrys reconciliation with tech after a decade fighting the internet, the music business fully embraced it in the 2010s. Streaming has now finally returned the business, which was nearly decimated by the shift from physical to digital formats, to growth. Perhaps no one has had a broader view of this phenomenon than Jimmy Iovine, the producer and record executive who made the leap to the other side. He and his partner, Dr. Dre, sold their company, Beats Electronics, to Apple for $3 billion in 2014 and helped launch Apple Music, the tech giants late entry to the streaming market, which now has more than 60 million subscribers. It was, from ... More | | 
Gertrude Himmelfarb in New York on Dec. 18, 1983. Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times.
by Douglas Martin
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Gertrude Himmelfarb, a historian of ideas who applied cool intelligence and elegant writing to making the case that Victorian-era morals should invigorate contemporary social policies, died Monday night at her home in Washington. She was 97. Her son, writer and commentator William Kristol, said the cause was congestive heart failure. As a historian and author, Himmelfarb commanded respect for her meticulous, often surprising scholarship, which was grounded in political, literary and personal sources. As a public intellectual, she became a heroine to conservatives and a bête noire of liberals, particularly for her arguments that a little more virtuousness trumps any number of government social programs. Himmelfarb was long married to Irving Kristol, who was often called the godfather of neoconservatism, and her histories coalesced with ... More | | 
Neil Innes by Luke Ford.
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Neil Innes, the British humorist and musician who was an honorary member of the Monty Python comedy troupe and made a name for himself with a nutty assortment of musical and television projects, including the Beatles parody band the Rutles, died on Sunday near Toulouse, France, where he had lived in recent years. He was 75. His wife, Yvonne Innes, said the cause was a heart attack. Innes, a multi-instrumentalist, was a particular type of songwriter: one who excelled at satirical songs and parodies of other peoples music, but who could also write a pretty good straight song. Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference. In the early 1960s he was one of the first members of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, also known as simply the Bonzo Dog Band. He wrote the groups biggest hit, Im the Urban Spaceman, which climbed into the Top 10 on the British charts in 1968. In the 1970s he wrote material for Monty Python, the groundbreaking six-member ... More |
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| | First solo exhibition in China of Jean Nouvel's work on view at The Power Station of Art | | India Art Fair announces 2020 programme | | German opera great Harry Kupfer dies aged 84 | 
Jean Nouvel, in my head, in my eye
belonging
at Power Station of Art, 2019. © Power Station of Art.
SHANGHAI.- The Power Station of Art is presenting the first solo exhibition in China of Pritzker Architecture Prize winner and Venice Architecture Biennale Golden Lion Award recipient, French architect Jean Nouvel. Rather than an usual architectural display, Nouvel transformed the exhibition room into a theater filled with light and shadow for his exhibition titled Jean Nouvel, in my head, in my eye
belonging... It debuts a three-and-a-half-hour film produced by Nouvel, as well as six works of art based on his architecture, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in what inspired Nouvels design practice, thus entering his thoughts and emotions. This exhibition is in collaboration with Fondation Cartier pour lart contemporain. With more than 200 construction projects worldwide, Jean Nouvel is perhaps one of the most prolific architects in the world. However, Nouvel has always pursued change and innovation. Since the b ... More | | 
The 12th edition of the fair will showcase over 75 exhibitors spanning 20 different global cities, 11 in India.
NEW DELHI.- India Art Fair, the leading platform to discover modern and contemporary art from South Asia, announces the full list of participating galleries and programme highlights for the 2020 edition. Taking place from 30 January - 2 February 2020 in partnership with BMW Group India, India Art Fair will present over 75 exhibitors spanning 20 different global cities, with the tent façade designed by popular Indian artist and illustrator Sameer Kulavoor. Led by Fair Director Jagdip Jagpal, the 12th edition of the fair celebrates the thriving modern-day art scene across South Asia, positioning the artists at its core, combining cutting-edge contemporary visual art with modern masters, vernacular artistic traditions, and an expanded performance and talks programme. Committed to presenting an all-inclusive event from entry to exit, the fair will include tactile artworks, braille ... More | | 
Picture taken on March 13, 2019 shows German opera director Harry Kupfer in Berlin. As it was confirmed on December 31, 2019, Kupfer died at the age of 84 on December 30, 2019. Soeren Stache / dpa / AFP.
BERLIN (AFP).- One of the world's most celebrated opera directors, Germany's Harry Kupfer, has died at the age of 84 in Berlin, his agency confirmed on Tuesday. In a career spanning 44 years, Kupfer worked at opera houses across Germany and was chief director of Berlin's iconic Komische Oper for more than two decades. Born in 1935, Kupfer studied in Leipzig and first worked in then-communist East Germany. But he rose to fame in 1978 with a production of Richard Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman" at the world-renowned Bayreuth festival. He took the reins at the Komische Oper three years later in 1981. A student of Komische Oper founder Walter Felsenstein, Kupfer staged works by Mozart and Wagner and oversaw two world premieres at the opera house before bowing out in 2002. He returned to Bayreuth in 1988, staging ... More |
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Finding Home: Four Artists' Journeys
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 New book smashes taboo over French author's sex with teensPARIS (AFP).- A prominent French author who has never made any secret of his preference for sex with adolescent girls and boys is at the centre of a firestorm as a former partner publishes a book describing the lasting trauma of underage intercourse over three decades ago. For many, the debate over the behaviour of writer Gabriel Matzneff, 83, is long overdue, given the essayist and commentator had described in sometimes lurid details his experiences with underage teens in his published work. In the book "Consent", Vanessa Springora, 47, now a leading publisher, describes how she was seduced at the age of 14 by Matzneff, then aged 36 years her senior, and how this left lasting scars. Its publication on Thursday comes as France is coming to terms in the age of #MeToo with a settling of scores after decades of what is seen by some, but not all, as ... More OCAT Shanghai revisits a number of important subjects and motifs in Zhang Ding's 15 years of practiceSHANGHAI.- OCAT Shanghai has moved to the new location. At the meantime, OCAT Shanghai is presenting its inaugural exhibition, Zhang Ding: High-Speed Forms. The exhibition at OCAT Shanghai re-evaluates the modernist legacy of linearity, revisits a number of important subjects and motifs in the artists 15 years of practice, and further develops the core elements of movements, motions, and emotional or atmospheric sculptures. Presented in the exhibition is a highway-speedy spectacle in various playful forms, made available in everyday context as one drives: a complete race track occupies the whole of the museum space; hovering, racing, speeding, is a number of modified electronic wheelchairs. Movement of walking is here replaced by that of riding or driving that operates in a prosthetic fashion; the sped relationship between the viewer and the spatial ... More New public art installation features reimaginings of the American flagNEW YORK, NY.- FACTION Art Projects is presenting a new public art installation in the windows of Gallery 8, New York. Curated by Natasha Becker, Oh say, can you see? features reimaginings of the American flag by artists Khalil Robert Irving, Sara Rahbar, and Daapo Reo. Each flag displayed is based on issues the artists are passionate about and each one transforms the iconic stars and stripes into entirely new visions of loss and hope. The diversity of commitments represented in the three artists and their flags suggest some of the unresolved projects of the United States today. The flags critique, deconstruct, reflect the past, mine the present, and envision the future. The artists invite us to stop, to pause, and think together about whats next. Khalil Robert Irvings black and white flag entitled Cortège (Malcolm, Martin) refers to the horrific assassinations and funeral cortèges of ... More Sonny Mehta, venerable Knopf publisher, is dead at 77NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Sonny Mehta, the literary savant who guided the reading hours of millions of people and the fortunes of venerable publisher Alfred A. Knopf for 32 years at a time of changing tastes, aggressive merchandising and demands for profits, died Monday at his home in New York City. He was 77. The cause was complications of pneumonia, a Knopf spokesman said. In an age of blockbuster bestsellers by presidents and prime ministers, of sometimes surreal and shocking literary breakthroughs and of cutthroat competition in a shrinking industry, Mehta was an almost ideal editor and publishing executive: a voracious reader and instinctive decision-maker who could spot great books and, coming from a paperback world, had no qualms about aggressively marketing them. On his watch, first as Knopfs president and editor-in-chief, ... More 'Blade Runner' artist Syd Mead dies at 86LOS ANGELES (AFP).- Syd Mead, the visual artist behind "Blade Runner" credited with shaping the sci-fi landscape with his futuristic movie designs, has died in California aged 86. Mead, who worked on films including "Aliens", "Tron" and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", died Monday following a battle with lymphoma cancer, his partner Roger Servick told multiple outlets. A post on Mead's Facebook page confirmed the news, with the words "Syd Mead 1933-2019." Mead had started his career in industrial design for the car and electronics industries, working for Ford, Chrysler, Sony and Philips, before switching to film. His concept art for a dystopian future Los Angeles in Ridley Scott's 1982 neo-noir classic "Blade Runner", starring Harrison Ford, won widespread acclaim. He retired in September. News of his death was mourned by leading ... More Meem Gallery opens the first solo exhibition in the UAE of works by Armen AgopDUBAI.- Meem Gallery is presenting the first solo exhibition in the UAE with celebrated Egyptian Armenian artist, Armen Agop (b.1969, Cairo). The artist, based in Italy since 2000, is well known internationally for his black granite sculptures; having exhibited with regularity through Europe, the Arab World and Asia. In this upcoming exhibition, Mantra, audiences will be able to view his drawings and paintings for the first time, alongside his sculptural works. The title of this multidisciplinary exhibition, Mantra reflects the nature of the work within this series, as physical documentation of a meditative, spiritual practice. Each artwork is undertaken with a focus, a mantra, set by the artist, created by a repeated action. Choosing one of the smallest elements, the point, and applying it over and over, the artist seeks to discover its limitless potential and to reach ... More Protest songs: Paris Opera musicians chime in with strike concertPARIS (AFP).- Paris Opera musicians on Tuesday gave a symphonic show of support for the grinding transport strike over the French government's pension overhaul. The orchestra musicians set up on sunlit steps outside the Bastille Opera to play for several hundred passers-by, many capturing the concert on cellphone cameras as cars clogged the nearby roundabout. It chimed in with the protests that have led to a crippling transport strike that has greeted President Emmanuel Macron's reform, which would also remove the opera employees' right to early retirement. "We still refuse to participate in any parody of negotiations," a musician told the crowd before the start of the concert. The repertory included classics like "The Damnation of Faust" by Hector Berlioz and "The Dance of the Knights" from the Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev, and ... More Pennings Foundation opens an exhibition of works by Tom WoestenborghsEINDHOVEN.- On the day he turned 40, visual artist Tom Woestenborghs decided to focus solely on the making process for a year. For a year he wanted to make art without ulterior motives. He limited himself to three themes: floral still life, nude and abstract. But making art without ulterior motive soon turned out to be an impossible task. The flower still life and the nude are ancient themes in art history, to which meanings are attached. Flowers are perishable and for that reason have been associated with memento mori for centuries. Female nude has been about feminine beauty for centuries, but also evokes social discussions about identity and power relations in our time. And forces the viewer into the role of voyeur. Even abstract art is not without meaning. Shapes, colors and use of materials still evoke associations. In short, even if the artist says he has no ... More Collective, Edinburgh presents The Collective Museum: Citizen project for a museum of collective memoryEDINBURGH.- Collective presents The Collective Museum: Citizen project for a museum of collective memory, a new exhibition from Casablanca-based contemporary art organisation LAtelier de lObservatoire. LAtelier de lObservatoire design, produce and disseminate projects which support Moroccan contemporary creativity, nationally and internationally. The Collective Museum consists of a series of acts of recovery and collection of documents, photographs, objects, films, and memories from places, predominantly in Casablanca, facing demolition, dereliction or reappropriation. These include domestic, family spaces and abandoned or former public spaces. This project builds on the artist and co-founder of Atelier de lObservatoire Mohamed Farijis previous project, The Imaginary Aquarium, which attempted to reactivate ... More Ahlers & Ogletree will ring in 2020 with a two-day signature estates auctionATLANTA, GA.- A two-day, New Years Signature Estates Auction packed with 1,274 lots in a wide array of collecting categories is planned for the weekend of January 11th and 12th by Ahlers & Ogletree, online and in the gallery at 700 Miami Circle in Atlanta. Start times both days will be 10 am Eastern. In addition to online bidding, phone and absentee bids will also be accepted. Session 1, on Saturday, January 11tth, will be highlighted by an important collection of Chinese antiquities from the Han, Tang, and Ming Dynasties; and notable works of modern art and design by George Nakashima, Clement Meadmore, Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Nevelson, Marc Chagall and David Nash. Also offered in Session 1 will be a large and impressive collection of signed works by Sergio Bustamante; a collection of Native ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, Chinese painter Qi Baishi was born January 01, 1864. Qi Baishi (1 January 1864 - 16 September 1957) was a Chinese painter, noted for the whimsical, often playful style of his watercolor works. Born to a peasant family from Xiangtan, Hunan, Qi became a carpenter at 14, and learned to paint by himself. After he turned 40, he traveled, visiting various scenic spots in China. After 1917 he settled in Beijing. In this image: Qi Baishi, Crabs, circa 1930. Album leaf, ink on paper. University of Michigan Museum of Art. Gift of Sotokichi Katsuizumi, 1949/1.199.
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