| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Wednesday, July 19, 2023 |
| | A fossil dream as big as Texas | |
|
|
Rex Kowalski, a Texas Through Time lab manager, 3-D scans a mosasaur skull found in north Texas, at the facility in Hillsboro, Texas, April 20, 2023. Andre LuJans ambition is to build a public museum focused on displaying the Lone Star States paleontological plenty. (Nina Riggio/The New York Times)
by Asher Elbein
NEW YORK, NY.- Most people come to Ox Ranch an 18,000-acre property outside Uvalde, Texas for the thrill of hunting exotic animals in the Hill Country. But the ranch is also home to ancient secrets, as in lines of dinosaur tracks that cut across an empty creek bed and in a dark cave under a stony hillside that contains the remnants of Pleistocene animals and humans. The ranch is owned by Brent Oxley, the wealthy founder of a web-hosting company who has brought in Andre LuJan to manage the propertys fossils. LuJan is a commercial paleontologist, bald and often dressed in dinosaur-themed shirts and socks, who collects fossils and assesses their value for private clients. Such arrangements are not unusual in the vast and wealthy state, which is in the middle of a paleontological renaissance. But many specimens collected on private lands end up sold to private collections, where the broader public may never see them again. That wont be the case with Ox Ranch, and LuJan has bigge ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Patrycja Orzechowska "Embracing the Dark", curated by Stanislaw Ruksza, is currently on view at TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin.
|
|
|
|
|
| An art-filled Swiss idyll in Lausanne and the Joux Valley | | When did humans first occupy the Americas? Ask the sloth bones. | | Mystery object is found on remote beach in Western Australia | 
The Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet is presenting its new temporary exhibition entitled Simply Complicated.
by Christopher Solomon
NEW YORK, NY.- One morning in late August, I headed north from Lausanne, the Swiss lakeside city about 40 miles east of Geneva, on a nearly empty local train. Within minutes, buildings fell away and the train pushed through a green, working country of farm fields and tractors. The train stopped at a dozen villages that arent on the usual tourist map: Arnex, Le Day, Les Charbonnières. Lakes appeared, and forest. This was another Switzerland, beyond worldly Geneva, Zurich and Basel, where awe softened to something on a more human scale. After 90 minutes, the train pulled into the station at the village of Le Brassus the end of the line. At first glance, I thought I had made an error. There was not much to see around the station, except the steeple of the little Protestant church. A small grocery. Road signs directing drivers to the mellow pleasures of Nordic skiing in Risoud Forest. Then I noticed signs on nearby buildings: Swatch Group. Patek Philippe. Audemars Piguet. Since the early 18t ... More | | 
This week a new academic study upended migration timelines by proposing that what is now central-west Brazil was settled as early as 27,000 years ago, a finding that bolsters the theory that our ancestors inhabited the continent during the Pleistocene Epoch, which ended around 11,700 years ago. (Pansani et al., Proceedings of the Royal Society B via The New York Times)
NEW YORK, NY.- Of all the long-running disputes in archaeology, few roil scholars more than the question of when humans arrived in the Americas. For much of the past century, the reigning theory was that in or around 11,500 years ago big-game hunters from Asia trudged to North America across a land bridge spanning the Bering Strait, hung a right through a corridor between glaciers and, in less than a millennium, reached the tip of South America. Over the past three decades, however, archaeological research has made it increasingly clear that the hunters were preceded by much earlier cultures that colonized the Americas between 24,500 and 16,000 years ago. This week a new academic study upended even those migration timelines by proposing that what is now central-west Brazil was settled as early as 27,000 years ago, a finding that bolsters the theory that our ancestors inhabited the ... More | | 
A photo provided by the Australian Space Agency shows a metal cylinder that was found on a beach in Western Australia. (Australian Space Agency via The New York Times)
by Amanda Holpuch
NEW YORK, NY.- A remote beach in a part of Western Australia known for its rock lobsters and wildflowers has become home to a hulking metallic mystery object and the police officers guarding it. The Western Australia Police Force asked people on Monday not to draw conclusions about the origins of the cylindrical object while it was being investigated. But in news reports and on social media, people speculated that it could be from a military or commercial airplane, or even a spacecraft. The mystery object appears to be metal, has cables or wires hanging from the top and is at least 2 meters, or about 6 feet, 6 inches, tall, according to local news reports. A civilian reported the object to the police on Sunday after it was found near Green Head, a coastal town of fewer than 300 people about 155 miles north of Perth that is known for its fishing and sea lions. The police said in a statement on Monday night that the object was safe and did ... More |
|
|
|
|
| ICA/Boston promotes Anni A. Pullagura to Assistant Curator | | Morphy's Aug. 2-3 Toys & General Collectibles Auction merges classics with today's pop culture favorites | | The Art of Hawai'i - Featuring The Ossipoff Collection - at Bonhams Los Angeles | 
Pullagura will have an expanded role in the ICAs curatorial and exhibition program, deepen her involvement with the ICAs educational initiatives, and oversee curatorial internships.
BOSTON, MASS.- The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston announces the promotion of Anni A. Pullagura to Assistant Curator. In her new position, Pullagura will have an expanded role in the ICAs curatorial and exhibition program, deepen her involvement with the ICAs educational initiatives, and oversee curatorial internships. Among her significant projects at the museum, Pullagura assisted in the organization of Simone Leigh: Sovereignty, the ICAs commission for the 59th Venice Biennale as well as the nationally touring survey exhibition Simone Leigh and its accompanying publication. Pullagura has also organized the forthcoming 2023 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition opening Aug. 24, 2023, and is contributing towards the first U.S. Museum survey of Charles Atlas, opening in 2024. Since first joining ... More | | 
Vintage C & R Curly fiberglass long-tail rail-tether car powered by a Dooling 61 magneto-ignition engine. Fully geared, proper fuel tank, and track-ready. VG-Excellent condition. Estimate $3,000-$5,000.
DENVER, PA.- Morphys spring toy auction, which took in $3.1 million, made headlines worldwide with its phenomenal single-owner collection of factory-boxed Star Wars figures and a sports card selection that included an $873,300 Topps baseball wax-pack brick. No other event in Morphys 20-year history could top that one for the amount of social media buzz or the number of pre-sale inquiries from prospective bidders. The fun will resume on August 2-3, when Morphys presents its summer offering of Toys & General Collectibles featuring both classic toys and pop-culture favorites: vintage sports cards, comic books and early video games. We wanted to offer variety in this sale something to please everyone and to include collectibles categories that are in high demand and still growing, said Tommy Sage, Head of Morphys Toys ... More | | 
Detail of Moomomi, Molokai, Hawaii, 1912 by David Howard Hitchcock (1861-1943), estimated at $20,000 30,000. Photo: Bonhams.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Bonhams will present the Art of Hawaii, a themed sale celebrating artists of Hawaii and featuring works which highlight the beauty of the Pacific Islands, on August 2 in Los Angeles. The sale will feature notable Hawaiian and Hawaii-based artists such as Isami Doi, David Howard Hitchcock, Betty Ecke, Cornelia MacIntyre Foley, Charles William Bartlett, Helen Thomas Dranga, and Ethel Chun Lum depicting a range of figurative, cultural, and landscape subjects. Highlights of the sale include Mo'omomi, Molokai, Hawaii, 1912, estimated at $20,000 30,000, by David Howard Hitchcock (1861-1943), an artist known for his depictions of the state, and Halema'uma'u, Lake of Fire, Kīlauea Crater, attributed to Hitchcock, estimated at $30,000 50,000. Leading the sale is a curated selection from the Collection of Vladimir ... More |
|
|
|
|
| Wadsworth Atheneum and The Amistad Center for Art & Culture Hire Programs Manager for the African Diaspora | | Beverly Moss Spatt, protector of landmarks in New York, dies at 99 | | Record prices achieved for Fina Gomez Collection of Modern Ceramics | 
In her new role, Blake will deliver creative arts experiences and programs that promote the art, history, and culture of the African diaspora through community engagement activities and education. Courtesy of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.
HARTFORD, CONN.- The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art acting in partnership with The Amistad Center for Art & Culture has hired Bethani Blake in the newly-created position of Programs Manager for the African Diaspora. Funded by The Amistad Center, the programs manager will serve both institutions, located under the same roof at 600 Main Street in Hartford. In her new role, Blake will deliver creative arts experiences and programs that promote the art, history, and culture of the African diaspora through community engagement activities and education. Reporting to the director of learning and engagement at the Wadsworth, and working closely with the staff at The Amistad Center, these programs will amplify the collections of the Wadsworth and The Amistad Center. Bethani ... More | | 
Beverly Moss Spatt, head of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, at her office in New York, on April 17, 1975. (Jack Manning/The New York Times)
by Robert D. McFadden
NEW YORK, NY.- Beverly Moss Spatt, a fierce defender of New York Citys aesthetic and cultural heritage who battled real estate and political interests to protect distinguished buildings and historic districts as chair of the citys Landmarks Preservation Commission in the 1970s, died Friday in Brooklyn. She was 99. Her son, David, on Monday confirmed her death, at New York University Langone Hospital-Brooklyn. A Brooklyn judges daughter who grew up talking civics at the breakfast table, Spatt was on the City Planning Commission in the 1960s and became known as a shameless do-gooder. She got out and spoke to people in the neighborhoods, carried their fights to City Hall and developed a low tolerance for backroom deals. It was, she said, a good foundation for landmarks- ... More | | 
Bol à grand pied (Large footed bowl) executed in 1972 by the American artist Fance Franck sold for 10,880, world record price for the artist. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- The Fina Gomez collection of Modern Ceramics sale Part II, which brought together ceramics by various artists including a large selection of ceramics by Cristina Merchán, was 98% sold by lot (100% by value) on Thursday 12 July on Bonhams.com. The top lot was a stoneware sculpture with mineral elements and ash glaze entitled Monumental champignon by Elisabeth Joulia which sold for 25,600. The sculpture had a pre-sale estimate of 2,000-3,000. The 160-lot sale made a total of 200,128. Bol à grand pied (Large footed bowl) executed in 1972 by the American artist Fance Franck was sold for 10,880 (estimate: 500 - 700) which is a world record price for the artist. A 1970s Sculpture made of glazed stoneware by Nadia Pasquer sold for 9,600 against an estimate of 500-700 also a world record price for a piece of ceramics by the artist. This exceptional collection ... More |
|
|
|
|
| Museum of the City of New York taps Stephanie Hill Wilchfort as Director and President | | City approves design for Shirley Chisholm monument in Prospect Park | | The ICA San José welcomes six new board members | 
Wilchfort joins MCNY from her role as President & CEO at Brooklyn Childrens Museum.
NEW YORK, NY.- Museum of the City of New York, celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023, today announced the appointment of Stephanie Hill Wilchfort as the new Ronay Menschel Director and President of the Museum. She begins at MCNY on September 11, 2023, taking the Director reins from Sarah Henry, the Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Chief Curator, who has been leading the institution as Interim Director since the departure of Whitney Donhauser in late 2022. Dr. Henry continues her work as the Museums Chief Curator and Deputy Director, roles that she has held since 2005. We are so pleased to have found such an accomplished and well-respected museum professional to lead the Museum of the City of New York into this next phase, said William Vrattos, Chairman of the Museums Board of Trustees. Stephanie has a stellar track record for cultivating community and garnering essential support from ... More | | 
A rendering of the Shirley Chisholm monument in Brooklyn, by Olalekan Jeyifous and Amanda Williams. (via Olalekan B. Jeyifous and Amanda Williams via The New York Times)
by Zachary Small
NEW YORK, NY.- On Monday, city officials approved designs for a monument to Shirley Chisholm, who, in 1968, was elected the first Black woman to serve in Congress, representing a district that encompassed her childhood neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. A national symbol of empowerment for women and people of color, Chisholm was also the first woman to seek the Democratic presidential nomination. The Public Design Commission, which has authority over the citys permanent art collection, unanimously approved the 32-foot-tall, yellow and green sculpture of the congresswoman, a slightly scaled-back version of the original design. It will rise near the southeast entrance of Prospect Park. Artists Amanda Williams and ... More | | 
Jackie Whittier Kubicka.
SAN JOSE, CA .- The Board of the ICA San José welcomes six new incredible people to the Board of the museum. Aldo Billingslea is the Father William J. Rewak S. J., Professor of Theatre Arts at Santa Clara University. A member of Actors Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild, Billingslea has appeared in numerous theatrical productions in the Bay Area and across the country. Aldo has served on the Board of The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, and PlayGround. He resides in Santa Clara with Renee Billingslea, his visual-artist wife who also teaches at Santa Clara University. With over 25 years of experience in intellectual property and corporate law, throughout her professional career, Michelle Branch (she/her) has provided expert legal counsel in areas such as organizational structure, fundraising, and strategic transactions. As principal of Branch Law Group, she has served as lead counsel to Twilio (now a NYS ... More |
|
Picasso and Rodin: Facing Abstraction | After Impressionism #3 | National Gallery
|
|
|
| More News |
 Babe Ruth still smashing records as his 1916 debut sells for $645,000 to lead off Heritage's $8.8 million auctionDALLAS, TX.- Babe Ruth hit another one out of the park this weekend when his 1916 Famous & Barr Co. rookie card realized a record-setting $645,000, topping Heritage Auctions' $8.8 million July 14-15 Summer Sports Card Catalog Auction. There are just seven examples of this fabled card in Professional Sports Authenticator's Population Report, which explains the demand for the card bearing Felix Mendelsohn's iconic black-and-white photo of the thin Boston Red Sox pitcher still years from becoming baseball's Sultan of Swat. The amount realized for this Famous & Barr-backed version of Ruth's increasingly popular M101-5/M101-4 card set an auction record for any example of Ruth's rookie graded PSA ... More  VOLTA Art Fairs appoint Artistic DirectorNEW YORK, NY.- Curator and contemporary art specialist Lee Cavaliere will lead VOLTA art fairs beginning July 2023. Applying a clear vision, the new Artistic Director will align the fairs positioning with developments of a rapidly changing art market. Lee Cavaliere is an accomplished arts professional and expert in contemporary art, with experience in both the institutional and gallery sector. After working with the Tates Collection displays, Cavaliere employed his expertise in the commercial market, delivering contemporary exhibitions at Max Wigram Gallery and the Fine Art Society on Bond Street, London. As Head of Sales at the London Art Fair Cavaliere applied an international focus in his curation of galleries that he carried forward in pursuit of independent curatorial initiatives. Notable curatorial work includes Cat Street Gallerys solo presentation ... More  The jazzy tune you heard on hold? This part-time musician made it.NEW YORK, NY.- Harriet Goldberg is the composer of what may be one of the most heard songs in the world today. This 74-year-old New Jersey native is, in her own words, a late blooming, part-time musician, who has never played a live gig and is unknown to the music industry at large. But every day since 2017, Goldbergs jazzy instrumental, My Time to Fly, has been served up to countless callers who are put on hold by the customer service lines of businesses large and small. These include Capital One, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Costco, Nasdaq, the Kansas Unemployment Office, Sagami Railway in Japan, Dartmoor Prison in England, scores of hotels and restaurants and, yes, The New York Times. Goldbergs journey from a career in social work to the queen of hold music is an unlikely one. Its the product of a passion that wasnt acted on until she was in her late 40s. ... More  What does it mean to be blind? A writer chronicles the loss of his visionNEW YORK, NY.- In 2019, Andrew Leland began writing a book about blindness, even as he was going steadily blind himself. Working as his vision deteriorated gave him an insiders perspective who better to write about the blind than the blind? but, as he learned, also made writing and reporting the book something of a trial. Hed jot down notes with fat-tipped pens during interviews so he could more readily see what he was writing; later, he used a six-button Braille display, an electronic note-taking tool that he was still mastering. When I downloaded my notes onto my computer, he recalled, it looked like I had had a bottle of scotch before writing them. At first, he figured his experience made for the perfect story arc: He would start the book sighted, and end it when he was blind. But that plan soon fizzled. How would Leland know when he was really blind? ... More  Harry G. Frankfurt, philosopher with a surprise bestseller, dies at 94NEW YORK, NY.- Harry G. Frankfurt, a philosopher whose fresh ideas about the human will were overshadowed in the broader culture by his analysis of a kind of dishonesty that he found worse than lying an analysis presented in a bluntly titled surprise bestseller, On Bullshit died Sunday in Santa Monica, California. He was 94. His death, at a nursing facility, had a number of causes, among them congestive heart failure, his daughter Kate Frankfurt said. Harry Frankfurts major contribution to philosophy was a series of thematically interrelated papers, written from the 1960s through the 2000s, in which he situated the will peoples motivating wants and desires at the center of a unified vision of freedom, moral responsibility, personal identity and the sources of lifes meaning. For Frankfurt, volition, more than reason or morality, ... More  What it's like to be a female tour guide in Saudi ArabiaNEW YORK, NY.- Fatimah Al Zimam likes to walk around in black leggings and casual tops, and she wears her curly hair loose and uncovered. She owns a silver GMC pickup truck, which she loves to take on solo drives across the Saudi desert. And she is passionate about her work: As a tour guide, she has introduced her country to visitors from the United States, France, Britain, Italy, China and beyond. Al Zimam, 34, is a Saudi woman and she works for herself. She represents a profound transformation thats underway in her home country, which has long been known as a deeply conservative place. Saudi Arabias opening to nonreligious tourists in 2019 is a major part of the ongoing shift, as are several important gains that women have been granted over the past half-decade, although some restrictions remain. But even with the recent changes, ... More  Six ways to find a little elbow room in DubrovnikDUBROVNIK.- The Pile and Ploce Gates, the two entrances into Dubrovniks Old Town, once had drawbridges that lifted during the overnight hours, forcing visitors wanting to enter to wait outside its stone walls until morning. The bridges no longer lift, yet the bottlenecks of morning visitors remain. This compact, seaside city in Croatia has drawn millions of travelers from around the globe for years. Its popularity grew when HBOs Game of Thrones used it as a primary location and visitors soon overwhelmed the city, particularly in the summer. Officials have introduced measures to manage the crowds without limiting the number of visitors, but according to the Croatian National Tourist Board, this year is on pace to become the citys busiest ever. Yet a trip to Pearl of the Adriatic need not require jostling with other tourists, bumping about ... More  New online auction platform, TOP DRWR, set to launchNEW YORK, NY.- TOP DRWR, a cutting-edge online platform, is set to redefine the world of luxury auctions. Ready to revolutionize the auction industry, TOP DRWR is poised to deliver an unrivaled experience for pop culture enthusiasts and collectors seeking unique items from the personal collections of renowned, high-profile talent. The companys first auction launches on Wed., July 26, at www.topdrwr.io and features sought-after apparel from the personal collection of NBA superstar Jimmy Butler. All items have been curated by stylists Calyann Barnett and Khalilah Beavers and authenticated in partnership with The Shop Miami, an experiential collective of coveted brands, artists and innovative concepts. A portion of the proceeds from TOP DRWRs initial auctions will be donated to the Social Change Fund United to support critical and timely ... More  In LA theaters Friday: Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd LOS ANGELES, CA.- Syd and Pink Floyd crystallized a cultural moment where anything seemed possible but where that freedom could come with a cost. Was Syd just another drug casualty? Did he suffer from an undiagnosed mental condition? Or did he dislike the attention and fame as the fun turned to work? While there are no clear answers which might be the case, there is the feeling by all those around Syd that something went terribly wrong. Have You Got it Yet? is a chronicle and a mosaic of Barretts creative and destructive impulses, his captivating presence and absence - a portrait of the complex puzzle that was his life. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Roddy Bogawa (Taken By Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis) and the late, acclaimed cover designer Storm Thorgerson (Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Black ... More  Artistic Director of HERE to depart after 30 yearsNEW YORK, NY.- Kristin Marting, the founding artistic director of HERE, wanted to make something clear in announcing her departure from the avant-garde off-off-Broadway theater after 30 years. Im not retiring, she said in an interview last week. Ive had my opportunity as a white woman leader to put my stamp and perspective on HERE and on the work that we do, she said. So it just feels like the right time for me to make space for what that new vision is. Exactly what that new vision will be is unclear for now: a successor will be named at a later date, and Marting, 56, will program one final season before stepping down next June. HERE, a genre-bending arts center that commissions, produces and presents the work of multidisciplinary artists, was founded in 1993 when Marting and three colleagues (Tim Maner, Barbara Busackino and Randy ... More |
|
PhotoGalleries 
Gabriele Münter 
TARWUK 
Awol Erizku 
Leo Villareal
Flashback On a day like today, French painter Edgar Degas was born July 19, 1834. Edgar Degas (19 July 1834 - 27 September 1917), was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist. A superb draftsman, he is especially identified with the subject of the dance, and over half of his works depict dancers. In this image: An auction house worker poses for the photographers behind a sculpture by Edgar Degas, ahead of an auction sale in central London, Friday, June 15, 2012.
|
|
|
|
© 1996 - 2021