| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Wednesday, June 28, 2023 |
| | With slashed funding, British museums turn to philanthropy | |
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Joshua Reynoldss Portrait of Mai (Omai), center, on display at the end of a newly renovated corridor at the National Portrait Gallery in London, June 20, 2023. Britains National Portrait Gallery reopened Thursday after a three-year, $53-million renovation raising the money in the current climate was tough. (Tom Jamieson/The New York Times)
by Alex Marshall
LONDON.- On a recent tour of Londons National Portrait Gallery, Nicholas Cullinan, the museums director, pointed out some of the major British figures from history and pop culture whose likenesses lined the walls: Shakespeare, King Henry VIII, Vogue editor Anna Wintour. In between showing off the portraits, he pointed out some less familiar members of British high society. On plaques and painted onto walls were the names of donors who had paid for much of the recent three-year, $53 million renovation of his institution. As of Thursday, when the museum reopened to the public, visitors enter the National Portrait Gallery via the Ross Courtyard, named after a retail magnate who donated more than $5 million for the refurbishment. One floor is now called the Blavatnik Wing, after a Ukrainian-born business owner who gave the museum nearly $13 million. The sites three new classrooms, designed for school visits, are also named for donors. ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day âMy Beating Heart/ Mi corazón latienteâ at the New Museum will be the most comprehensive exhibition to date by Pepón Osorio, featuring selected works from the 1990s to today. In this image: Pepón Osorio, Badge of Honor. Exhibition view in original storefront: Newark, NJ, 1995. Photo: Sara Welles.
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| Princess Leia's dress from the original 'Star Wars' is up for bids | | After cutting ties with Russia, a Hermitage Museum outpost rebrands | | At a German museum with Russian trustees, teamwork is tense | 
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) - Princess Leia's (Carrie Fisher) Screen Matched Ceremonial Dress. Current absentee: $750,000 (1 bid). Estimate: $1,000,000 - $2,000,000. Starting: $500,000.
NEW YORK, NY.- The long, white dress worn by Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in the final scene of the original 1977 Star Wars movie, A New Hope, was once thought to have been long gone, destroyed after the films production. But the iconic dress was recently found in a London attic and will go up for sale at a live auction on Wednesday. It could sell for as much as $2 million, according to an estimate by Propstore, a company that sells film and TV memorabilia and is organizing the auction. In the film, Princess Leia wore the dress, a ceremonial gown that was made from lightweight silk and styled with a silver belt, during an awards ceremony. In the scene, the princess, who is a leader of the Resistance, honors Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford, and Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, with medals for their work in helping to save the galaxy. The dress was though ... More | | 
The American billionaire Thomas Kaplan in Amsterdam, Feb. 7, 2023. (Herman Wouters/The New York Times)
by Nina Siegal
AMSTERDAM.- In March 2020, a week after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Hermitage Amsterdam museum severed ties with the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The decision was a moral one, Hermitage Amsterdam Director Annabelle Birnie said in an interview. But it had major practical consequences for the museum, which had been founded in 2009 as a kind of satellite of the Russian institution. Without the link to St. Petersburg, the Hermitage Amsterdam was adrift, without an identity or art to exhibit. It had to reinvent itself quickly, or simply close its doors. At a news conference in Amsterdam on Monday, flanked by international museum directors and diplomats, Birnie announced that the museum is reemerging with a new name and a new group of collaborators. As of Sept. 1, it will be renamed HArt Museum, and it will present exhibitions in ... More | | 
Jörg Morré, the director of the Berlin-Karlshorst Museum, at the museum in Berlin, June 23, 2023. (Mustafah Abdulaziz/The New York Times)
by Catherine Hickley
BERLIN.- As preparations get underway for the 75th anniversary of the Berlin airlift, a Cold War victory for Western allies over a Soviet blockade, one of the museums mounting a commemorative exhibition is negotiating the fallout from a more recent geopolitical conflict. The Berlin-Karlshorst Museum, on the site of the German armys formal surrender at the end of World War II, commemorates what it describes as Germanys brutal war of extermination against the Soviet Union. Founded in 1995, when Germany and the Russian Federation were on friendly terms, the museums collection includes many objects on loan from Russia, including a Soviet tank that stands at the museum entrance. But at a time when Germany is contributing military hardware worth billions of euros to Ukraine so the latter can protect itself from invading Russian forces, ... More |
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| Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr explores Paris and the Arab World in new sale | | Artist STIK to raise money for Southbank Centre free children's programme | | Allegory featuring Villa Medici in Rome stars in Bonhams Old Masters sale in London | 
Nasser Al Aswadi (Yemen, born 1978), Hubb - Love - Amour, 188 x 130 x 70cm. Estimate: 18,000 - 28,000. Photo: Bonhams.
PARIS.- The city of Paris has often been a source of inspiration for artists from all over the world, whilst the world has also had a large impact on Paris. A new sale at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr on Wednesday 5 July will celebrate a certain aspect of this Paris and the Arab world. The sale Le Paris du Monde Arabe will bring together works by artists from across numerous counties in a diverse variety of mediums. Leading the sale is sculpture TOTEM, by Lebanese artists Anachar Basbous (born 1969), which has an estimate of 60,000 - 80,000. Anachar Basbous was born in Rachana, Lebanon, in 1969 his first name an anagram of this city. His mother, Thérèse Aouad Basbous, was a poet and novelist and his father was the sculptor Michel Basbous, one of the major Lebanese artists of the 20th century. Having studied architecture at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, he went to Paris to study at the National School of Arts and Craf ... More | | 
Original, signed artists proofs from STIKs latest print release STAMP to be offered in Christies Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale on 29 June. © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.
LONDON.- Artist STIK and Londons Southbank Centre are teaming up to raise thousands of pounds to fund free creative events and activities for Imagine Childrens Festival, the UKs leading arts festival for children 0-11 years. A unique set of six artists proofs by STIK will feature in the Christies Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale on Thursday 29 June. Earlier this year STIK hosted STIK STAMP, a nine day series of free workshops, at the Southbank Centre which saw 3,500 children lift one of six life-sized inked rubber stamps - hand-carved by STIK and featuring his minimalist stick man figure - onto 100% wove hemp paper. Jumping, stomping and stamping, each child created their own unique version of the monochrome print to take home. To continue the legacy of STAMP and support access to art making, STIK has now donated his original, signed ... More | | 
Attributed to Sebastian Vrancx (Antwerp 1573-1647), Allegory of the months of March and April, with the Villa Medici (detail). Estimate: £100,000 - £150,000. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- The gardens of the Villa Medici in Rome have become known for their fragrance. In certain months, the lemon trees, lavender and oregano flowers, mix with woody aroma of the nearby cedars and the fragrance of the ancient stones in the heat of the sun. The changing of the seasons is particularly felt, making Allegory of the months of March and April, with the Villa Medici which is amongst the highlights of Bonhams Old Master Paintings on sale on Wednesday 5 July at New Bond Street, London particularly apt. Attributed to Sebastian Vrancx (Antwerp 1573-1647) the work has an estimate of £100,000 - £150,000. Lisa Greaves, Head of Bonhams Old Master Painting Department, commented: Allegory of the months of March and April, with the Villa Medici most likely formed part of six paintings, each illustrating two consecutive months of the year, which were acquired by William Smith ... More |
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| BMA acquires LaToya Ruby Frazier installation celebrating Baltimore's community health workers | | AstaGuru's Collectors Choice Auction a remarkable success with impressive sales and several records | | Africa Supernova: The collection of Carla & Pieter Schulting now on view at Kunsthal KAdE | 
LaToya Ruby Frazier. More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland 2021-2022, 2022. Installation view: LaToya Ruby Frazier, Gladstone Gallery, New York, March 2 April 15, 2023. Commissioned by Carnegie Museum of Art for the 58th Carnegie International and funded in part by National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship, 2021-22. © LaToya Ruby Frazier, Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery.
BALTIMORE, MD.- The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has announced that it has acquired LaToya Ruby Fraziers acclaimed installation More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland 2021-2022. Featuring a series of portraits and related narratives mounted on 18 socially distanced, stainless-steel IV poles, the large-scale installation captures and celebrates the essential work of community health workers in Baltimore during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Powerful and deeply evocative, the installation monumentalizes the Community Health Workers efforts and offers an alternative approach to monument- ... More | | 
S.H. Raza, Prakriti, 1994. Acrylic on Canvas.
MUMBAI.- AstaGuru recently concluded its Collectors Choice Auction with an impressive turnover of INR 26,63,41,989. The auction which took place online on June 20-21, 2023, offered a collection of over 200 works, encompassing different periods of Modern Indian Art with exceptional creations by revered names M.V. Dhurandhar, Jamini Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, M. F. Husain, Akbar Padamsee, K. H. Ara, Sakti Burman, K. K. Hebbar, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Ganesh Pyne, Satish Gujaral, K.G. Subramanyan, Manu Parekh, Biren De, Thota Vaikuntam, Bhupen Khakhar, V.S. Gaitonde, and Manit Bawa among others. Commenting on the auction, Sunny Chandiramani, Vice President- Client Relations, AstaGuru, said, We are extremely thrilled with the success of our Collectors Choice Auction. This validates our belief in the auction format, which allows the collectors to acquire rare and unseen gems of modern art at different price points. The combinati ... More | | 
Kunbi, Don't Talk. Africa Supernova: The collection of Carla & Pieter Schulting.
AMERSFOORT.- Africa Supernova - Collection contemporary African paintings from the collection of Carla & Pieter Schulting will be on view at the Kunsthal KAdE in Amersfoort from 24 September to 7 January. African painting has blossomd in recent years. It reflects the self-awareness of the continent's artists and the way they look at themselves and their position in the world. Collectors Carla & Pieter Schulting have acquired a large collection of paintings - supplemented by some sculptures and photographs - from all parts of Africa during this period, giving an insight into what African painting is currently about. Many artists in the collection have chosen themselves or their immediate surroundings as subjects with portraits, figure pieces and genre scenes. Works by over 100 artists will be shown. Cores are formed by artists from South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia) ... More |
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| 1st major U.S. exhibition of Brazilian artist Erika Verzutti now on view at CCS Bard | | Michaan's July Auctions sparkles with collecting gems | | Netta Lieber Sheffer is the winner of the 2023 Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative-Realist Art | 
Erika Verzutti, Missionary, 2011 [detail] Bronze and acrylic. 12.20 x 3.94 x 6.30 in. (31 x 10 x 16 cm.).
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY.- Marking the artists first major institutional survey in the U.S., Erika Verzutti: New Moons spotlights the original and influential practice of one of the most celebrated artists working today. Presenting over 60 sculptures and wall works made over the past 15 years, as well as a new commission, New Moons illuminates the many lines of inquiryincluding studies of being, the natural world, the cosmosthat converge and find new associations in Verzuttis highly tactile creations. Curated by Lauren Cornell, Chief Curator at the Hessel Museum of Art and Director of the Graduate Program, the exhibition has been on view at CCS Bards Hessel Museum of Art since June 24, and will continue through October 15, 2023. Following a series of acclaimed solo exhibitions ... More | | 
Neoclassical Annular Clock. Estimate $3,000/4,000.
ALAMEDA, CA.- In July, Michaans will conduct two auctions. Starting the month off with our Gallery Auction on Friday, July 14th. Followed by our Annex Auction from July 17th through July19th. Michaans Gallery Auction starts off with the Furniture and Decorative Arts section boasting decorative main stays such as Swarovski, Wedgewood, Llardo, and Nippon export pieces. The Sterling Silver section includes Justis & Armiger, Wallace and Reed & Barton. The furniture is led by an American Renaissance Revival Walnut and Marquetry Center Table, circa 1870. The Fine Arts section has a striking collection of photography by artists O. Winston Link, Michael Keena, and Arthur Clarence Pillsbury. One of the painting highlights is a beautiful portrait of the granddaughter of Dona Letty del Rosario painted by renown Filipino artist, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz. ... More | | 
Netta Lieber Sheffer. Photo credit Itay Bar Yosef.
TEL AVIV.- The Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative-Realist Art Committee has awarded this years prize to Netta Lieber Sheffer. The prize carries a US$ 10,000 grant and a solo exhibition with a catalog at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (TAMA). One-hundred and twenty-one artists submitted applications for the prize this year; the Prize Committee included TAMAs Director Tania Coen-Uzzielli and Chief Curator Mira Lapidot, curator Emanuela Calò, TAMA Board of Directors member Doron Sebbag, Professor Ariel Hirschfeld and Dr. David Graves. The Committee noted that Netta Lieber Sheffer (born 1972) presents an oeuvre that is outstanding in size, wealth of detail and the ambition of the frame story or idea at its core. This is especially astounding when considering that the medium she uses is pencil, charcoal or watercolor on large sheets ... More |
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Sothebyâs Spotlight: Rishika Assomull and Michelle Yaw on Female Artists
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 Review: A Jew and 16 'Nerf Nazis' meet cute in 'Just for Us'NEW YORK, NY.- It may be too much to ask a human hummingbird like Alex Edelman to try to stick to the subject. In Just for Us, his three-jokes-per-minute one-man show, he zooms from punchline to punchline almost as fast as he caroms around the stage of the Hudson Theater. (At 34, hes part of what he calls the overmedicated ADHD generation.) If you havent read about his act coming to Broadway, you might assume from his introduction in which he describes his usual style as benign silliness and says this isnt Ibsen that you are in for a cheerful evening of laughs. And even though hes telling a story about white supremacy, you are. Thats the glory and also the slight hitch of Just for Us, which opened Monday after runs in London; Edinburgh, Scotland; Washington and off-Broadway. No, its not Henrik Ibsen, a dramatist rarely noted for zingy ... More  Intoart announces its summer collection exhibition 'A Lion in the Studio' at Copeland GalleryLONDON.- Intoart announces the second annual Summer Collection Exhibition, titled A Lion in the Studio, which will take place in the organisations home ground of Peckham, South London. On show at Copeland Gallery from 29 June - 2 July, the exhibition will celebrate 22 artists from the Intoart studio. Intoart is a pioneering visual arts organisation championing people with learning disabilities to become visible, equal and established artists. A Lion in the Studio will bring together a selection of works, ranging across disciplines including painting, ceramics, drawing, print and textile. The exhibition will offer a glimpse into the experimental and thematically diverse works made at Intoart, exploring the artists respective passions, such as Nineties street-fashion, the restorative calm of nature and the joys of dancing to pop music. As well as themes ... More  Yves Dana & Richard Höglund open exhibition today at Waddington CustotLONDON.- This summer, Waddington Custot presents works by Egyptian-born Swiss sculptor Yves Dana and American painter Richard Höglund, two artists complementary to one another for the powerful simplicity of their works which are rich with historical reference. Yves Danas (b.1959, Alexandria, Egypt) sculptures are inspired by ancient Egyptian and Cycladic forms. At the heart of the exhibition, two monolithic sculptures, each over three metres in height, reveal how the artist works on a monumental scale in stone and bronze. These will be accompanied by a further number of freestanding sculptures shown together in a group, and table top pieces which more directly relate to the proportions of the human body. Dana was born in Egypt but his family were forced to flee Alexandria in 1961 during an expulsion of Jewish people and other ... More  'Klara Kristalova: The Cold Wind and the Warm' being presented by Lehmann MaupinLONDON.- Following her inclusion at the critically-acclaimed Strange Clay exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, Lehmann Maupin presents The Cold Wind and the Warm, an exhibition of new work by Klara Kristalova and the artists first solo presentation in London. Kristalova is best known for her figurative ceramic sculptures that incorporate both aspects of the human body and elements of nature. Across her oeuvre, Kristalova explores transitional states essential to both human and ecological life. Crafted in the artists secluded studio in Norrtälje, Sweden, Kristalovas uncanny sculptures explore the tension between innocence and horror, conjuring an awkward yet powerful presence. Building a world that bridges humanity, ecology, and fantasy, Kristalovas work emphasises the omnipresence of change across all life forms. The works in The Cold ... More  Berlin based Portuguese born artist Leonor Antunes' solo exhibition opening at Fruitmarket EdinburghEDINBURGH.- On Friday 23 June Portuguese, Berlin-based, artist Leonor Antunes opened her latest exhibition Leonor Antunes: the apparent length of a floor area which runs from 24 June to 08 October at Fruitmarket Edinburgh. Antunes engages with traditions of modernist art, architecture and design through sculpture made and displayed with the specifics of a given place in mind. The forms and materials of her sculptures reference a history of modernism embedded in the work of its less visible protagonists; overlooked, often female, artists and designers. This cast of historical companions enters Antunes work in enigmatic ways through an echo of form or measurement, or the replication of a particular knot, hinge, colour or material infusing it with their spirit and sensibility. Recent research has led Antunes to the work of architect, designer ... More  Weinberg/Newton Gallery to permanently close doors with public, celebratory closingCHICAGO, IL.- After nine years of serving the Chicago community through arts and social justice, Weinberg/Newton Gallery (688 N. Milwaukee Ave.), a non-commercial gallery dedicated to promoting social justice causes through art and programming, is partnering with Firebird Community Arts and Gun Violence Prevention PAC (G-PAC) to present its final exhibition, DISARM, Everyday Violence, Every Day, an explanation of the challenges of structural racism and violence that Chicago still faces today, on view since June 23, and ending on September 9th, 2023. Weinberg/Newton Gallery will permanently close its doors on September 9 with a public, celebratory closing party to take place that evening. The hard work and creativity of the Weinberg/Newton Gallery team and the artists that have exhibited here, has allowed us to carry out our mission and engage ... More  Million-dollar Revolutionary War hero's gold medal on display at the Museum of the American Revolution in PhiladelphiaPHILADELPHIA, PA.- A unique gold medal celebrating the Revolutionary War victory by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan over British Army forces in the 1781 Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina is making its first appearance since it sold at auction for $960,000 in April 2022. It apparently also is the first time it is available for general public viewing since its creation in 1839. The winning bidder in the Stacks Bowers auction, Brian Hendelson, president of Classic Coin Company in Bridgewater, New Jersey, has loaned the historic Daniel Morgan at Cowpens medal and its original red leather and purple velvet presentation case to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. It is a featured part of an exhibit ... More  MCA Australia partners with 3XN/GXN architects on sustainable exhibition design in 2023-24SYDNEY.- The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia announced an innovative partnership with 3XN/GXN on sustainable contemporary art exhibition designs for the Museum in 2023-24. MCA Australia is working with 3XN architects' award-winning green innovation unit GXN, which focuses on developing a sustainable practice through material and behavioural innovation. The Museum and 3XN/GXN are working together over the next twelve months to develop a set of architecturally informed sustainable and reusable solutions for built elements of temporary exhibitions. Suzanne Cotter, Director of Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, said the move to develop solutions for more sustainable approaches to exhibition design is part of the ambition for MCA Australia to continue to develop best practices for an environmentally sustainable future. ... More  Cooee Art to relaunch as Art Leven marking new era for Australia's oldest Indigenous gallerySYDNEY.- Australias oldest Indigenous gallery Cooee Art today announces that it will relaunch as Art Leven, ushering in a new era for the gallery under the stewardship of long-term owner and Director Mirri Leven. Although the gallery will remain focused on First Nations art, in this new chapter as Art Leven, the gallery will exhibit non-Indigenous alongside First Nations artists, through specially curated individual projects. The new gallery vision will focus on transparent dialogue, offering an opportunity beyond the ordinary commercial relationship between artist and gallery, fostering an environment of openness and direct exchanges between artists. Art Leven will work directly with First Nations curators, art centres, and represented artists. Art Leven will unveil its inaugural exhibition in line with this new programming focus on Thursday 27 July 2023 ... More  Last chance to see Juan de Pareja, Afro-Hispanic painter, closing at The Met on July 16NEW YORK, NY.- Juan de Pareja, Afro-Hispanic Painter offers an unprecedented look at the life and artistic achievements of Juan de Pareja (ca. 16081670). Largely known today as the subject of The Metropolitan Museum of Arts iconic portrait by Diego Velázquez, Pareja was enslaved in Velázquez's studio for more than two decades before becoming an artist in his own right. On view through July 16, 2023, this exhibition is the first to tell his story and examine the ways in which enslaved artisanal labor and a multiracial society are inextricably linked with the art and material culture of Spain's "Golden Age." The presentation brings together approximately 40 paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts objects, as well as an array of books and historic documents, from The Met's holdings and other collections in the United States and Europe. ... More  The first biography of pioneering female pop artist Pauline BotyLONDON.- Pauline Boty (1938 1966) was a founding member of the British Pop Art movement and one of its very few women. She attended Londons Royal College of Art at a watershed moment when its students included David Hockney, Peter Blake, R.B. Kitaj and Allen Jones. Dying tragically young at the age of 28, she is now seen as central to British Pop Art and an icon of Sixties culture. As well as her work as an artist, she appeared on the stage, TV and in film (including alongside Michael Caine in Alfie) and was a regular contributor on BBC radio. She was photographed by David Bailey and others and became a key player in 1960s Londons golden age. Outspoken, provocative and charismatic, she refused to accept the oppositions between sexual and serious, celebration and critique, high and low culture. Observer and participant, feminist ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Gabriele Münter 
TARWUK 
Awol Erizku 
Leo Villareal
Flashback On a day like today, Italian architect Domenico Fontana died June 28, 1607. Domenico Fontana (1543 - 28 June 1607) was an Italian architect of the late Renaissance, born in today's Ticino. He worked primarily in Italy, at Rome and Naples. In 1586 he erected the 327 ton obelisk in the Square of St. Peter's. This feat of engineering took the concerted effort of 900 men, 75 horses and countless pulleys and meters of rope. In this image: Domenico Fontana by Federico Zuccari.
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