| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Wednesday, May 3, 2023 |
| | A Dutch quest for buried Nazi treasure comes up empty | |
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A member of a team of experts and archaeologists digs in the village of Ommeren in the Netherlands on Monday, May 1, 2023, searching for valuables buried by Nazi soldiers. The release of a map sketched by a German soldier had touched off a gold rush in the tiny village, but the early-morning excavation failed to solve the mystery. (Ilvy Njiokiktjien/The New York Times)
by Claire Moses
OMMEREN.- Joke Honders had been up since 2:10 a.m. After months of waiting for approval from local Dutch officials, as well as for better weather, the time had come on Monday: An official team of experts would take its first, last and best shot at excavating a trove of treasures hidden by the Nazis. Honders, a longtime resident and local historian, was in charge of the complex early-morning operation, which involved metal detectors, an excavator and a team of archaeologists, and she could not help but marvel at what was unfolding before her. This is exciting! she said, coordinating the real-life treasure hunt in a grassy area next to an apple orchard in Ommeren, a sleepy village with about 750 residents that is 40 miles southeast of Amsterdam. What it was not, it turned out, was successful. Despite digging three separate holes within feet of one another in an area that Honders had identified by overlaying ancient ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Taika Waititi looks on as Rita Ora wears Jared Letoâs cat head at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala in New York, May 1, 2023. (Landon Nordeman/The New York Times)
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| Pocock masterpiece triumphs at Bonhams Marine sale | | Renoir, Rockwell, Calder, and Lichtenstein are stars of Bonhams May art auctions | | Gagosian to present 'Tom Wesselmann: Intimate Spaces' opening in Beverly Hills | 
Detail of the Formidable breaking the French line at the Battle of the Saintes, 1782 by Nicholas Pocock and James Hillhouse. Sold for £82,200. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- The Formidable breaking the French line at the Battle of the Saintes, 1782 by Nicholas Pocock (1740-1821) from drawings by James Hillhouse (1748-1822) was the top selling work at Bonhams Marine Sale in London on Wednesday 26 April 2023. Estimated at £25,000-35,000, the painting sold for £82,200, achieving the third highest ever price for a picture by the artist. Rhyanon Demery, Bonhams Head of Sale for Marine and Topographical Pictures said: The Battle of the Saintes, also known as the Battle of Dominica, was the most important naval victory by the British over the French during the American War of Independence. HMS Formidable was the British flagship under the command of Admiral Sir George Rodney and Pocock memorably captures the moment on 12 April 1782 when she broke through the French line and scattered their ships. This ... More | | 
Otto Dix (1891-1969); The War (Der Krieg) (51 works). Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- In May, Bonhams will present four Fine Art auctions which feature some of the most important artists of the 19th and 20th centuries including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Man Ray, Roy Lichtenstein, Alexander Calder, and Norman Rockwell. A monumental portfolio, Der Krieg (The War), by Otto Dix will highlight the Modern & Contemporary Prints & Multiples sale at the beginning of the month. Then the Impressionist & Modern Art auction will feature Roses, a fresh-to-market painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir; this sale will be followed the next day by Post-War & Contemporary Art headlined by breakout star Jadé Fadojutimis A Declaration of War. Closing out the month, American Art is highlighted by an exemplary Norman Rockwell painting that is fresh-to-market and in its original condition. Der Krieg (The War), 1924, by Otto Dix (1891-1969), one of the great anti-war artworks, is the star lot of the Modern & Contemporary ... More | | 
Tom Wesselmann, Smoker #8, 1973. ©The Estate of Tom Wesselmann/Licensed by ARS/VAGA, New York.
BEVERLY HILLS, CA.- Gagosian is opening Tom Wesselmann: Intimate Spaces, an exhibition of paintings of nudes by Tom Wesselmann. Following the 2018 exhibition Wesselmann: 19631983 at Gagosian, Beverly Hills, and Tom Wesselmann: Standing Still Lifes at Gagosian, New York, the same year, Intimate Spaces is organized in collaboration with the Estate of Tom Wesselmann. The exhibition includes a number of important works held by the artists estate, including key examples recognized as the pinnacle of their respective series. A defining artist of US Pop art, Wesselmann produced innovative mixed-media paintings that brought the energy of commercial culture to still lifes, interiors, landscapes, and nudes. The exhibition concentrates on the artists primary subject, the female nude, with key works from Great American Nudes (196173) and subsequent series. With a nod to both the ... More |
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| The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston announces appointment of Ruth Erickson | | An art professor says AI is the future. It's the students who need convincing | | Yvonne Jacquette, painter of views from on high, dies at 88 | 
Currently serving as Mannion Family Senior Curator, Erickson has been a driving force in the ICAs curatorial department since joining the museum in 2014. Photo by Ally Schmaling.
BOSTON, MASS.- The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston announced today that Ruth Erickson has been appointed the museums Barbara Lee Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs. Erickson will lead the vision and development of the ICAs exhibitions and collection, in alignment with the ICAs mission to present and serve diverse artists and audiences, and offer a global view of todays contemporary art practices. I am positively elated that Ruth Erickson will serve as the ICAs Barbara Lee Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, said Jill Medvedow, Ellen Matilda Poss Director of the ICA. As an art historian and a humanist, Ruth will lead with a keen eye, open heart, and clear vision for justice and the ways in which art, artists, and museums can make meaning, build community, and inspire hope and change. I am thrilled to expand my work at the ICA, a place I know well and ... More | | 
Lance Weiler, an AI convert who runs the Digital Storytelling Lab at Columbia Universitys School of the Arts, in New York, March 20, 2023. (Timothy O'Connell/The New York Times)
by Zachary Small
NEW YORK, NY.- Lance Weiler is preparing his students at Columbia University for the unknown. What Im going to show you might disturb you, he warned the class in January, at the beginning of his graduate course on digital storytelling. A filmmaker who made his reputation on the frontiers of entertainment technology by inventing a popular augmented reality game around his film, Head Trauma, Weiler parlayed his experiments into a job at the School of the Arts, where he shows how computers might become creative partners instead of professional dead ends. His classes have combined augmented reality with Edgar Allan Poe, virtual reality with Sherlock Holmes and machine learning with Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. Now, Weiler wants his students ready for an art world that is gradually embracing the latest digital ... More | | 
A photo provided by Sheyla Baykal, via DC Moore Gallery shows the painter Yvonne Jacquette in her New York studio in the early 1970s. (Sheyla Baykal, via DC Moore Gallery via The New York Times)
by Neil Genzlinger
NEW YORK, NY.- Yvonne Jacquette, an artist who could frequently be found on an upper floor of a skyscraper or in an airplane getting unusual perspectives for the urban and country landscapes she painted, an adventurousness that led one of her museum exhibitions to be titled Aerial Muse, died April 23 at her home in the New York City borough of Manhattan. She was 88. Her son, the artist Tom Burckhardt, said the cause was a heart attack. Jacquette made a career out of looking at things differently, starting in the 1960s. I was beginning to do yoga, and I had to look up at the ceiling in my loft, which was stamped tin, she told the culture website The Brooklyn Rail in 2008. So I did paintings of that, and of doorways and so forth, for a little while, and then suddenly it occurred to me to reverse that, and look down. She ... More |
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| Pocket an extraordinary watch at Bonhams Knightsbridge Watches and Wristwatches sale | | Rome, sacred ground for nearly 3,000 years, and counting | | Rare coin shot by Annie Oakley at Bonhams Arms and Armour sale in Knightsbridge | 
Thomas Tompion, London. A fine and rare 18K gold and gilt metal key wind quarter repeating pair case pocket watch, estimate £20,000-30,000. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- Bonhams Watches and Wristwatches sale on 11 May will have on offer staple designs from names including Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and IWC, shown alongside a significant single-owner collection of exquisite 17th and 18th century pocket watches. The 14 pocket watches heading to auction, originate from the prestigious T.P. Camerer Cuss collection renowned for his discerning eye for special timepieces. The watches on offer include designs by the father of English clockmaking Thomas Tompion (1639-1713) alongside works by George Graham and Joan Dellavos. The quality of the designs in the collection, highlights the craftsmanship utilised in the history of watchmaking including enamel, repousse, engraving and gem settings. Penelope Andrews, Bonhams ... More | | 
A painting in the Marino Mithraeum in Rome, April 2023. Christianity is just one chapter in the Eternal Citys rich spiritual history Judaism, Islam and ancient Roman religions are also a big part of the picture. (Martin Pauer/The New York Times)
by David Laskin and Martin Pauer
NEW YORK, NY.- According to legend, Rome was born April 21, 753 B.C., when Romulus, the survivor of its feuding twin founders, hitched his plow and furrowed a circular perimeter in the hills above the Tiber River. Everything inside was urbs, city space consecrated by priests who interpreted the will of the gods; everything outside was ager unhallowed open territory. We have a city founded by the auspices and augury, Roman historian Livy wrote. There is not a corner of it that is not full of our cults and our gods. Rome, in a sense, has been sacred ground right from the start. To many, Rome is the epicenter of Catholicism, the seat of the Vatican and home to a seemingly infinite number ... More | | 
A Rare 'Oakley' 1854 Penny Coin. Estimate: 500 - 800. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- A female sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, Annie Oakely was an extraordinary woman whose skill captivated audiences on both side of the Atlantic, garnering her a reputation as 'the greatest rifle and wing shot in the world'. Part of her popular act involved a coin being thrown up into the air, which she would shoot before it hit the ground. The coin would then be stamped 'OAKLEY and handed out to a member of the applauding crowd. One of these rare souvenirs is amongst the highlights of Bonhams Antique Arms and Armour Including The Ray Wilkinson Collection on Wednesday 24 May in Knightsbridge, London. The Oakley coin has an estimate of £500 - 800. David Williams, Bonhams Director of Arms and Armour, commented: The story of Annie Oakley is truly extraordinary, and this coin is a real piece of shooting history. We are delighted to offer it in the sale alongside the exceptional ... More |
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| Can artistry be built into a machine? | | Tampa Museum of Art's Centennial Renovation celebrated with opening of seven new exhibition spaces | | Garment District Space for Public Art presents artist Joy Brown's "Kneeler" | 
FRIDA, an artificial intelligence assisted robotic arm, at work at the roBot Intelligence Group at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, on April 7, 2023. (Kristian Thacker/The New York Times)
by Oliver Whang
NEW YORK, NY.- One day recently, on a table in Jean Ohs lab in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, a robot arm was busy at a canvas. Slowly, as if the air were viscous, it dipped a brush into a pool of light-gray paint on a palette, swung around and stroked the canvas, leaving an inch-long mark amid a cluster of other brushstrokes. Then it pulled back and paused, as if to assess its work. The strokes, mostly different shades of gray, suggested something abstract an anthill, maybe. Oh, head of the roBot Intelligence Group at Carnegie Mellon University, dressed in a sweatshirt bearing the words There Are Artists Among Us, looked on with approval. Her doctoral student, Peter Schaldenbrand, stood alongside. ... More | | 
Dr. Kiran Patel and Dr. Pallavi Patel North Atrium.
TAMPA, FL.- The Tampa Museum of Art announced the official opening of seven new exhibition spaces. Last evening, during the Museum's Renovation Celebration, Tampa Bays leaders, Museum benefactors and members gathered to mark the conclusion of the Museum's Centennial Renovation project phase, which began construction in mid-2021. The new spaces include the transformation of underused storage rooms into the Vinik Family Education Center and seven new exhibition galleries. The spaces are designed by New York-based WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism, the firm also responsible for the expansion of the existing museum building. With the completion of the renovation phase of the Centennial Renovation and Expansion, the museum's exhibition and collection space has grown from 14,800 square feet to more than 43,000 square feet, including a renovated sculpture gallery on the first floor, and a flexible multimedia gallery spa ... More | | 
Joy Brown, "Kneeler". Located on Broadway in the Garment District between 39th and 40th Streets, Kneeler is a large bronze figure that holds a quiet power, a friendly space inviting passersby to touch and play.
NEW YORK, NY.- A joyful, endearing bronze sculpture is welcoming New Yorkers and visitors to the heart of Midtown Manhattans Garment District, as the Garment District Alliance unveils its latest public art exhibit, Kneeler, created by artist Joy Brown. Located on Broadway in the Garment District between 39th and 40th Streets, Kneeler is a large bronze figure that holds a quiet power, a friendly space inviting us to touch and play. Its presence conveys a universal spirit of harmony and optimism that transcends culture, gender and age. The sculpture which is free for viewing and will be available to the public through August 31st is part of Garment District Art on the Plazas, a year-round public art program made possible through Arterventions, a subpart of the New York City Department of ... More |
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Dramatic before and after How do we clean a 600-year-old painting?
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 Abdul Wadud's cosmic cello music gets another moment in the sunNEW YORK, NY.- In a 1980 interview, cellist Abdul Wadud laid out a musical manifesto, describing his expansive attitude toward the instrument he had spent decades mastering. The cello, he said, can be anything that I want it to be. Wadud wasnt just speaking theoretically. A few years earlier, he released a solo LP called By Myself on his own label, Bisharra (the name means good news in Arabic), that employed vigorous bowing, graceful pizzicato vamps and guitar-like strumming. Its holistic sound drew on his extensive experiences in both jazz and classical, as well as the rich array of Black music he absorbed growing up in Cleveland in the 1950s, and influences from, as he put it in the albums liner notes, Mother Africa. Decades later, fellow musicians are still marveling at Waduds achievement. Hes turned the cello into an ... More  On the origin of EGOTsNEW YORK, NY.- Common would be the first to admit that he has an EGO that is, an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award and an Oscar making him just a Tony Award shy from securing the coveted EGOT, the achievement of winning all four major entertainment awards. Eighteen people have done so, and Frozen songwriter Robert Lopez is the only person to do it twice. The most recent addition was actress Viola Davis, who earned a Grammy in February for the audiobook of her memoir, making her one of six women to have an EGOT. Now Common has a shot at joining this rather uncommon club. The Tony nominations will be announced Tuesday, and he is eligible in the featured actor in a play category after making his Broadway debut in Between Riverside and Crazy. But where did the EGOT acronym come from, ... More  Hollywood writers go on strike, halting productionLOS ANGELES, CA.- Hollywoods 15 years of labor peace shattered Monday night, as movie and television writers said they would go on strike, bringing many productions to a halt and dealing a blow to an industry that has been rocked in recent years by the pandemic and sweeping technological shifts. The unions representing the writers said in a statement that they had voted unanimously to call a strike. Writers will begin walking picket lines Tuesday afternoon. Their three-year contract was set to expire at midnight Pacific time Monday. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains on behalf of Hollywood companies, said in a statement that its offer included generous increases in compensation for writers. The organization added that it remained willing to keep negotiating. The primary sticking points, according ... More  May 5 Cinema Poster Collection sale packed with design classicsLONDON.- From Hammer horror Dracula classics starring Christopher Lee to kitsch 1950s B movies, the market for film posters is booming, say Ewbanks, whose May 5 Cinema Poster Collection auction is packed with fine examples. Partner and head of Entertainment Memorabilia Alastair McCrea and his team have put together dozens of highly collectable posters for the sale, some running well into four figures. And they include a large selection of horror titles, including the 1966 Hammer horror Dracula Prince of Darkness (estimate £700-1,000) and the 1954 Sci-Fi horror Devil Girl from Mars (estimate £400-600). These posters have amazing wall power and provide more bang for your buck than almost any other decorative collectable, says McCrea. At Ewbanks we have sold over a million pounds worth of film posters over the past ... More  In Transylvania, anyone with $200 can live like a king. (Well, one specific king.)ZALÃNPATEK.- There isnt a front desk or even a lobby at the Prince of Wales Guesthouse, a trio of rustic buildings beside a 350-year-old village in Zalán Valley in Transylvania. Check-ins are handled in the communal dining room and den where a woman, who is the cook, hands over an antique key. It will open the door to one of seven rooms, all of which look as if they were furnished with a Romanian edition of House Beautiful, circa 1740. The only contemporary touches are electric kettles, radiators and bottled water. Its the royal treatment, King Charles-style. On Saturday, the English monarch will be crowned with all the bunting and pageantry that has made the British royal family peerless masters in the fine art of pomp, with festivities that begin with a processional from Buckingham Palace. That is only the most famous of the kings ... More  V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography winners announcedLONDON.- Today the V&A announces the five winners of the inaugural V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography. The prize is a three-year commitment by the museum and is dedicated to identifying, supporting, and championing innovative women artists working in the field of contemporary photography. The prize attracted nearly 1400 submissions from artists all over the world, representing a broad visual and conceptual interpretation of the theme Agents of Change, which celebrates photographys role in affecting and documenting transformation, revolution and innovation. The five winners of the prize will have their work displayed at Peckham 24 south Londons vibrant three-day contemporary photography festival which opens Friday 12 May 2023. The winners were chosen from a shortlist of ten by the prize ... More  'Liminal Circularity', solo exhibition by artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons at Galerie Barbara ThummBERLIN.- Galerie Barbara Thumm is now presenting Liminal Circularity, a solo exhibition by MarÃa Magdalena Campos-Pons. The exhibition convenes two works by the artist. Recently exhibited at Sharjah Biennial (2023), this constellation reflects on vibrant legacies. As stated by Campos-Pons, circularity refers to geographical and spiritual implications of creolization. In her new multi-channel video, "Family Whisper", Campos-Pons introduces three screens corresponding to three spiritual planes; Babalú Ayé, Obalata, and the oceanic horizon at the center. On this occasion, her video installation is accompanied by an invocation to Yoruba goddess Oshun, summoned by the ancestral symbol of sunflowers. MarÃa Magdalena Campos-Pons Liminal Circularity 2023. Rite of Initiation (Sacred Bath) delivers MarÃa Magdalena Campos-Pons into a visual ... More  Sprovieri presenting Mario Dellavedova's fourth solo exhibition at the galleryLONDON.- Sprovieri is presenting "Sense Exercises / Sans Exercice", Mario Dellavedovas fourth solo exhibition at the Gallery. The artist's conceptual work juxtaposes artefacts, furniture, textiles and everyday objects. Dellavedova creates works that through the richness of their materials and the refinement of their detail undermine their own quotidian function. By juxtaposing familiar and ordinary elements these works create an atmosphere of intimacy with mystical nuances that overwhelm the viewer with feelings and emotions. By including words and mundane sentences in works which are similar to paintings, the artist seems to evoke the banality of painting and its subjects as well as his detached and ironic spirit. Sense exercises / sans exercice: contradictions in terms. Meaningful exercises. ... More  Touchstone Gallery presents Whimsy: A solo show by Jill BrantleyNEW YORK, NY.- The paintings Jill Brantley is presenting in her solo exhibition, now opening at Touchstone Gallery, Whimsy, were created during and after the Covid-19 Pandemic lockdown. Brantley explores a variety of materials, such as acrylic paints, alcohol inks, oil pastels, charcoal, crayons, various papers, and found objects. She uses this mix of media to create abstract works full of color, patterns, lines, and textures that are both imaginative and whimsical. During the pandemic, we were all burdened by the restraints and restrictions placed upon us. Painting provided me with a way to feel some freedom during that time. I was free to paint whatever, however, and whenever I wanted without the production time constraints of an upcoming art show or class, says Brantley. I paint because it brings me joy; I hope the artwork in Whimsy brings some joy to the viewer too! ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Gabriele Münter 
TARWUK 
Awol Erizku 
Leo Villareal
Flashback On a day like today, Dutch painter Karel Appel died May 03, 2006. Christiaan Karel Appel (25 April 1921 - 3 May 2006) was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s. He was one of the founders of the avant-garde movement Cobra in 1948. He was also an avid sculptor and has had works featured in the museum of Great Samo and MoMA. In this image: Karel Appel, "Portrait of Rudi Fuchs". Photo: Bram Saeys.
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