The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Wednesday, October 19, 2022

 
Rich, Famous and then Forgotten: The Art of Rosa Bonheur

“Plowing in the Nivernais” (1849) by Rosa Bonheur, left, and a portrait of the artist by Édouard Louis Dubufe, on display at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Oct. 17, 2022. An exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay will be the first major Paris show in over 100 years for a painter who defied gender expectations in her personal as well as in her professional life. Elliott Verdier/The New York Times.

by Elaine Sciolino


PARIS.- How do we talk about Rosa Bonheur? A realistic painter of animals, she became the richest and most famous female artist of 19th-century France, burnishing her reputation with savvy self-promotion and an eccentric personal life. In the 20th century, she was forgotten. Now, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris is rehabilitating Bonheur with a retrospective on the bicentennial of her birth that is the biggest exhibition of her works ever and the first major Bonheur show in Paris for a century. The exhibition, which opens on Tuesday and runs through Jan. 15, 2023, brings together nearly 200 pieces and dozens of supporting prints and photographs by other artists, some of them never seen publicly in France. Bonheur spent a lifetime studying animals. Trained by her father during her teenage years, she began copying works in the Louvre, drawing and painting them with photographic precision. Convinced that animals had souls, she often portrayed them staring straight at the viewer, as if they were hu ... More



The Best Photos of the Day
Best Photos of the Day
Pre-Columbian, Peru, Moche, ca. 100 to 500 CE. A lovely hand-carved wooden spoon with a lengthy, ovoid scoop and a handle in the form of a figure laying on their stomach with their arms outstretched - perhaps intended as a flying shaman! Wearing a circular headdress, the figure displays muscular limbs, delineated fingers and toes, and a thick abdomen encircled by a slender belt. His round visage exhibits exaggeratedly large characteristics with heavy-lidded eyes, a broad nose, and full, fleshy lips held closed. Fine patina envelops this wonderful utilitarian creation by the ancient Moche! Size: 7.5" L x 1.8" W (19 cm x 4.6 cm); 4.6" H (11.7 cm) on included custom stand.






Restoration of Artemisia's painting in the home of Michelangelo announced   The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation acquires it's earliest piece of American Silver   Getty Research Institute acquires Richard Hunt archive


Art movers to remove Artemisia from Casa Buonarroti cieling. Photograph: Olga Makarowa. Artemisia Gentileschi’s "Allegory of Inclination" descends from Casa Buonarroti ceiling. In-progress restoration on public view until April 2023.

FLORENCE.- Florence’s home-museum dedicated to the memory of Michelangelo embarks on the restoration of Artemisia Gentileschi’s Allegory of Inclination (1616), one of the first paintings the artist created during her 7-year sojourn in Florence. From now until April 2023, it will be restored in public view, at the Casa Buonarroti Museum, following its removal from the gallery ceiling. Artemisia’s allegorical figure depicting ‘the inclination to produce art’ was originally painted nude, only to be censored, in the 1680s, with the addition of drapery and veils. This conservation project, dubbed ‘Artemisia Unveiled’, and co-funded by British not-for-profit Calliope Arts and British philanthropist Christian Levett, will use modern diagnostic and imaging technologies, to discover what the painting looked like, as Artemisia created it. The project includes an exhibition at Casa Buonarroti, ... More
 

Caudle Cup, John Hull (1624-1683) & Robert Sanderson (ca. 1608-1693) and marked by Jeremiah Dummer (1645-1718), silver, Boston, Massachusetts, ca. 1670, broad, baluster-shaped body with a lightly everted rim, a low base and a pair of cast handles applied to opposite sides. Museum Purchase: The Joseph H. and June S. Hennage Fund, 2022.

WILLIAMSBURG, VA.- A 17th-century caudle cup that belonged to the Puritan congregation of the First Church of Christ in Farmington, Connecticut, and was used there as a vessel for sacramental wine, was recently acquired by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation making it the earliest piece of American silver in its famed collection. The cup, wrought around 1670 in Boston, Massachusetts, was fashioned by the first silversmiths making goods in what is now the United States. “Colonial Williamsburg’s curators have worked diligently and with notable successes over the last decade to assemble a collection of American-made silver worthy of the institution’s other decorative arts holdings,” said Ronald L. Hurst, senior vice president for education and historic resources. ... More
 

Richard Hunt, Photographer: Chester Higgins. Artist Throughout his career, Hunt was central to important landmarks in African American art history and Civil Rights-era action.

LOS ANGELES, CALIF.- The Getty Research Institute has acquired the archive of sculptor Richard Hunt. Hunt’s work often ties together historical and contemporary references all the while creating historically-based artwork that conflates local and African diasporic themes and design elements. His unique approach to the conception and construction of sophisticated forms calls upon aspects of storytelling and memory with objects that emphasize fluidity, movement, migration, and change. “Hunt’s creative and seemingly spiritual connection to his African American heritage situates him as an inheritor of the African creative traditions that influenced modernism and its best-known European artists,” says Mary Miller, director of the Getty Research Institute. “Both sculptor and print maker, Hunt’s collection of models, maquettes, sculptural objects, sketchbooks, related works on paper, studio notebooks, ... More


Mazzoleni London opens a major exhibition of works by Victor Vasarely   MASSIMODECARLO opens an exhibition of new works by French artist Jean-Marie Appriou   'Done on the sly': France's flawed return of skulls to Algeria


Installation View of work by Victor Vasarely from the exhibition Einstein in the Sky with Diamonds.

LONDON.- Mazzoleni recently opened an exhibition by Victor Vasarely on October 12th. Einstein in the Sky with Diamonds, a selection of ten major works by the master of optical and kinetic art, covering almost his entire career from the 1950s to the 1980s. The exhibition, that will end on December 16th, presents some of the first compositions in which Vasarely experimented with the activation of the surface by the use of small, repeated geometric units and the vibrant alternation of black and white patterns, such as the striking Cassiopée 3 (1957). Dating from the 1950s, these works invented the language of Op Art. In the following decade, the painter rationalized the use of those “plastic units” by distributing them inside grids where the variations of tones and shades were rigorously modulated, as it is evident in the sculptural shapes and contrasting colours of Arc Tur (1968). ... More
 

Jean-Marie Appriou, "Magnetic Ship", 2019, cast bronze, 110 × 58 × 15 cm, 43 1/4 × 23 × 6 in.

LONDON.- MASSIMODECARLO is currently presenting an exhibition, that began on October 10th, of new works by French artist Jean-Marie Appriou, inaugurating the gallery's new London space, an eighteenth-century building at 16 Clifford Street in Mayfair. Ophelia is Appriou’s first solo presentation with the gallery, and his debut exhibition in the UK. Crafted using an experimental approach to working with metal, clay and other materials alongside great technical skill, Appriou’s works, on display through November 12th, evoke archaic forms that intertwine contemporary, mythological and futuristic worlds. An ode to the passing of time and to the possibility of otherworldly dimensions, his current exhibition finds its inspiration in Victorian artist Sir John Everett Millais’ painting of Ophelia (1851-52, Tate; London), a character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, ... More
 

A painting by artist Jean-Adolphe Beaucé depicts the battle of Zaatcha, a village that French troops violently crushed in 1849. Via The New York Times.

by Constant Méheut


PARIS.- When the French government returned — and Algeria accepted — the skulls of 24 people taken as trophies during France’s brutal colonial rule, both nations celebrated the powerful gesture as a milestone in their efforts to rebuild ties. The remains, part of one of Europe’s biggest skull collections at the Musée de l’Homme, or Museum of Mankind, in Paris, were presented by the Algerian government as “resistance fighters,” national heroes in Algeria for their sacrifice in chasing out French colonizers. As recently as this month, when France’s prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, arrived in Algiers for a two-day visit, her Algerian counterpart, Aymen Benabderrahmane, expressed his satisfaction with the repatriation, which took ... More



Phillips announces highlights ahead of the London Design Auction   Rare clocks head to Bonhams New York Fine Watches Sale   Shehan Karunatilaka wins Booker Prize for 'The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida'


Claude Lalanne, 'Crocoseat', 2007. Bronze. 71 x 39.5 x 43.4 cm (27 7/8 x 15 1/2 x 17 1/8 in.) Number 1 from an edition of 8 plus four artist's proofs. Seat impressed 1/8 D CL LALANNE 2007. Estimate £180,000 - 240,000. Image courtesy of Phillips.


LONDON.- Phillips announced highlights from the upcoming Design auction in London. Taking place on 2 November, the sale will feature important works spanning the 20th and 21st Centuries, including, among others, designs by François-Xavier Lalanne, Claude Lalanne, Marcel Coard, Gio Ponti and Paolo de Poli, Gabriella Crespi, Joris Laarman, and Finn Juhl, and studio ceramics including pieces by Hans Coper and Lucie Rie. Comprising 125 lots, the auction catalogue will go online from 18 October and on view to the public from 27 October at Phillips London galleries on Berkeley Square until the auction on 2 November at 2pm. Domenico Raimondo, Senior Director, Head of Department, Europe and Senior International Specialist, said, “We are delighted to present our Fall auction in London which encompasses a remarkable and varied selection of material, including ... More
 

A very fine mahogany month-going longcase regulator of small size, with remontoire, equation of time and revolutionary calendar, Jean Simon Bourdier, Paris, Circa 1800, Size 76 in (193 cm) high, Estimate: US$40,000-60,000. Photo: Bonhams.

NEW YORK, NY.- Bonhams is to offer a small private collection of 17th and early 18th century English clocks featuring designs by Tompion, East and Fromanteel that will feature in the New York Watches sale on October 20. Alongside the sale, Bonhams will preview the finest selection of antique and vintage clocks from the Elliot Collection, including rare clocks by the Father of English clockmaking, Thomas Tompion (1639-1713) and Joseph Knibb (1640–1711) featuring timepieces that will later head to the London salerooms in November. Jonathan Snellenburg, Bonhams Director Watches and Clocks, New York said: “We are delighted to be able to offer rare and important timepieces from some of the leading names in the field, including Bourdier and Blondeau, alongside previewing exceptional designs by Tompion and Knibb before they head to London. The collection in the forthcoming New York Watches sale really shows ... More
 

The Sri Lankan writer received the award, one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world, for his second novel, which examines the trauma of his country’s decades-long civil war.

NEW YORK, NY.- As a boy living through Sri Lanka’s civil war in the 1980s, Shehan Karunatilaka thought of political violence as part of the landscape. War was a constant backdrop to daily life, more mundane than frightening at times. So when he had the idea for a novel about a Sri Lankan war photographer who wakes up dead, in an underworld populated with victims of political violence, he conjured up what felt like the most realistic version of the afterlife: a tedious, dysfunctional bureaucracy, where hordes of confused ghosts are waiting to be processed. On Monday, that novel, “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,” was awarded the Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards. “We admired enormously the ambition and the scope and the skill, the daring, the audacity and the hilarity of the execution,” Neil MacGregor, the former director of the British Museum and the chair of this year’s judges, said during a news conference. ... More


Kunsthalle Münster stages Mikołaj Sobczak's first institutional solo exhibition outside Poland   The designer exploring African stories through traditional fabrics   What comes after a storm? From Twyla Tharp, a softer world


Mikołaj Sobczak, New Kingdom Orgy, 2019, Acryl auf Leinwand, 195 x 140 cm. Tomasz Pasiek Collection. Photo: Mikołaj Sobczak.

MÜNSTER.- In a range of media spanning paintings, films, performances, drawings and ceramics, Mikołaj Sobczak deals predominantly with the representation of historical events. With Leibeigene, Kunsthalle Münster is staging the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition outside Poland conceived to present the various facets of his artistic oeuvre. Several groups of works by the artist, created in recent years, are on view at the Kunsthalle. In addition to the series of Metamorphoses (2021)—a series of cut outs that stand freely in space—his film Upiór (2022) are being shown, surrounded by several paintings that make reference to Polish-Ukrainian history and the oppression of Ukraine. Sobczak's new film Up in the Attic (2022) has been premiered in the context of the exhibition as well as his monumental painting The Vision (2022), which was created especially for the exhibition. The work's point of departure is th ... More
 

Designer Bubu Ogisi at a tie-dye workshop in Lagos, Nigeria, on Sept. 17, 2022. Stephen Tayo/The New York Times.

by Ugonna-Ora Owoh


NEW YORK, NY.- Bubu Ogisi was studying fashion in Paris when her perception of Africa changed. Ogisi, a Nigerian fashion designer from Lagos, was the only Black person in her class, and she had been assigned to work on a project about the continent by her teacher. “I was adding Egypt, Morocco, everything, and my teacher told me, ‘No, do a project on Africa — Black Africa.’ I never knew there was a difference. I never knew there was this divide of how people think about Black Africa and the rest of Africa,” she said. “It was kind of a shock.” Ogisi went on to found her womenswear brand, IAMSIGO, based in Lagos; Nairobi, Kenya; and Accra, Ghana, in 2013, in part, to tell the historical stories of the African continent. Her collections are composed almost entirely of hand-crafted pieces and revolve around preserving ancient artisanal ... More
 

Twyla Tharp at a rehearsal of the “In the Upper Room” and “Nine Sinatra Songs” in New York, Oct. 8, 2022. Julieta Cervantes/The New York Times.

by Gia Kourlas


NEW YORK, NY.- Throughout her unparalleled career, Twyla Tharp has never swatted away a herculean task. She never dances around a challenge. That might be the only thing she doesn’t dance around. But for her latest project — remounting two masterworks at New York City Center starting Wednesday — the challenge wasn’t in creating something new. It was something more subtle: reframing a pair of dances, each with a different spirit, a different soul. “Nine Sinatra Songs” (1982), her lush excavation of the music of Frank Sinatra, is a tale of relationships: loving and thorny, playful and passionate. “In the Upper Room” (1986), a thriller of movement and music, is held together by its impeccable structure and galvanizing unison as dancers materialize and disappear through a thick haze of fog. It ... More




Explore "Transmaterial" by Antoni Ta`pies in New York



More News

Jakub Hrusa set to lead Royal Opera House
LONDON.- Jakub Hrusa, a rising Czech conductor, on Tuesday was named the music director of the Royal Opera House in London, one of the highest-profile positions in opera. Hrusa, 41, who has been the chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony in Germany since 2016, will take on the role in September 2025, replacing Antonio Pappano, who announced last year that he was leaving to become the chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra after a successful 20-year tenure at the opera house. There has long been speculation in London’s opera world over who would replace Pappano. Neil Fisher, a critic for the Times of London, rounded up a dozen contenders last year, including Edward Gardner, a former music director at English National Opera, and Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, who, until recently, led the City of Birmingham Symphony ... More

Kiki Smith and Yayoi Kusama to class up the new Grand Central Madison Terminal
NEW YORK, NY.- At 700,000 square feet, Grand Central Madison, the new Long Island Rail Road terminal opening in December, has an impressive scale: It is costing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority more than $11 billion, and the project, its largest ever, has been underway since 2006. Once known as East Side Access, the terminal was carved out of Manhattan bedrock and stretches underneath Madison Avenue from East 43rd to East 48th streets. MTA Arts & Design, which commissions art for the transit authority, has announced that the terminal will also be an underground gallery of sorts featuring enormous mosaics by two women with strong New York City connections: Kiki Smith, a longtime resident known for her figurative work, and Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese sculptor and installation artist who lived in the city from 1958 to 1975. ... More

University Archives to offer rare autographs, manuscripts, books
WILTON, CONN.- A 1777 battle letter signed by then-Continental Army Commander-in-Chief George Washington in New Jersey, a sword that was affixed to JFK’s catafalque guarding his coffin in the East Room of the White House, and an autograph letter signed by Albert Einstein in which he dispels competition to his Theory of Relativity are a few of the expected star lots in University Archives’ online-only auction scheduled for Wednesday, November 2nd, at 11 am Eastern time. The Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books auction features historical material from multiple collecting categories. All 452 lots are up for viewing and bidding now (on the University Archives website: www.UniversityArchives.com), plus LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com and Auctionzip.com. Phone and absentee bids will be taken, but there’s no live gallery bidding. “We ... More

The Arts of the Samurai comes to Bonhams New York
NEW YORK, NY.- THEOn October 26, Bonhams will present its annual Arts of the Samurai sale in New York showcasing nearly 200 lots of samurai culture including armors, swords, sword fittings, saddles, and helmets. Featured in the sale is a significant selection of more than 50 samurai swords with the earliest dating back to the 8th century and a number which show signs of having been used in combat. Highlighting the group is a Jūyō-ranked katana with mounts by Kashū Sanekage (active circa 1340-1380) from the Nanbokuchō era (1336-1392), estimated at $100,000 – 150,000, and an important Jūyō-ranked Sōshū katana by Tōsaburō Yukimitsu (active circa 1303), recognized as one of the founders of the Sōshū tradition of sword making, estimated at $80,000 – 120,000. Additionally, the sale will present a number of full suits ... More

Fondazione Luigi Rovati - the new art museum in Rome with an Etruscan collection in dialogue with contemporary art
MILAN.- Fondazione Luigi Rovati opened its Art Museum: two floors of exhibition space, with over 250 works that guide visitors from Etruscan times to the age of contemporary art. With the opening of the entire project, following the restoration, expansion, and repurposing of the Palazzo by MCA, Mario Cucinella Architects (the studio founded and led by Mario Cucinella), the process of gradually drawing Fondazione Luigi Rovati closer to the public is concluded. The stone architecture of the Hypogeum Floor hosts a portion of the exhibition itinerary. Greeted by a large cinerary urn of travertine, visitors can move beneath cupolas, as triangular crystal display cases feature large vases, votive offerings, antefixes and small bronze ... More

Perrotin opens a solo exhibition of work by Iván Argote
PARIS.- Perrotin is presentng Prémonitions a solo exhibition of Iván Argote. On this occasion the artist presents a new body of paintings and sculptures. Concurrently, the artist presents Air de jeu at the Centre Pompidou, as part of his nomination for Marcel Duchamp Prize. These two exhibitions feed back into each other, one prefiguring the contours of the other in an endless spiral. Iván Argote is a sensitive artist. Constantly listening to the world around him, it is with tenderness that he studies the inner murmurings of men and the societies that they have built for themselves, often through illusions. Fragile foundations, an earth constantly trembling, thin as the layer of tar on a road laid bare by the umpteenth construction site in the city of Paris, on which, however, the ego of the powerful has erected empires and monuments. The heroic figures ... More

Karimah Ashadu receives the 2022 Prize of the Böttcherstraße in Bremen
BREMEN.- The jury of the Prize of the Böttcherstraße in Bremen announces Karimah Ashadu (nominated by Bettina Steinbrügge, Mudam Luxembourg) as the 2022 winner of the € 30,000 prize. The award ceremony was held on Tuesday, 18 October at the Kunsthalle Bremen. Works by the prize winner and the other eight nominated artists will remain on view until 30 October 2022. The artist Karimah Ashadu (born 1985 in London, lives in Hamburg, Lagos and UK) presents the video installation #147;Cowboy” (2022) at the Kunsthalle Bremen. In this spatial composition, our gaze is guided between two projections. One channel remains dark while the other captures our attention until the first, with its play of light and shadow, draws us in again. In this way, the diptych engages us in its dialogue. On the left we see contemplative images of palm trees ... More

First major Contemporary Art Society acquisition for UK museum by award-winning Ibrahim Mahama
LONDON.- Eight photographic C-prints by Ibrahim Mahama that consider the internal migration of workers in Ghana and the extractive mining industry in the South of the country have been acquired by the Contemporary Art Society’s Collections Fund at Frieze; the suite of photographs will enter the collection at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery. Ibrahim Mahama explores themes of commodity, migration, and globalisation. His work is alert to the impact movement can have on the local environment as well as concerns around land-use change, and social unrest. The photographic C-prints, all from 2019, depict the tattooed arms of long-term collaborators Mahama has worked with in Ghana. Some are overlaid on historic colonial maps of key locations, cities, and villages across the country. Others are photographed against decaying leather ... More

ACMI appoints global creative leader as inaugural Executive Director of Programming
MELBOURNE.- ACMI has appointed Keri Elmsly to the new role of Executive Director of Programming, following a global search for a talented creative leader to produce innovative programming for Australia’s national museum of screen culture. New Zealand-born Keri was previously the NYC-based Senior Vice President of the Madison Square Garden Company’s Sphere Studios (2019-2022). Keri first encountered ACMI in her role as Chief Creative Officer at the USA’s Second Story (2015-2019), leading the US-based experience design studio’s work on the ACMI renewal in partnership with Melbourne architects BKK. ACMI Director & CEO, Seb Chan, said: "It is with real excitement that we welcome Keri Elmsly back to the Asia Pacific region to lead our programming division. ACMI first worked with Keri during our $40m transformation project, and ... More

Robert De Niro's career in a few artifacts
NEW YORK, NY.- When Robert De Niro heard that Marlon Brando’s personal, annotated “Godfather” script was for sale on eBay, he was not too happy. How could such an important cultural artifact, created by an acting icon, a true artist, be as easy to bid on as an old pinball machine or a Las Vegas coffee mug? This was around 2006, and De Niro had been looking for a place to donate the extensive collection of props, costumes, scripts, letters and mementos he had accumulated throughout his six-decade career. He did not want his “Taxi Driver” script notes to wind up deteriorating in a stranger’s closet in Des Moines, Iowa, so he sought out a place where the archivists and staff would care for and preserve each piece, including the red boxing gloves and leopard-print robe he wore as Jake LaMotta in “Raging Bull” and the pages of letters that he ... More

The rarest known Buddy Holly and Bob Dylan posters surface at Heritage Auctions in November
DALLAS, TX.- One poster represents the end of an era; the other, the very beginning (or close enough). They are bookends of a sort, each a delicate yet concrete keepsake from a historic moment. These printed vestiges with handwritten annotations should not exist, yet here they are in the same auction, no less — appropriate, since one man here profoundly influenced the other. One poster hails from Feb. 3, 1959, the day Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson, were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, on their way to a show in Moorhead, Minn. The musicians were en route to the Moorhead Armory as part of the Winter Dance Party tour when their single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza crashed in a cornfield. This is the only known poster from a concert that inexplicably wasn't canceled The Day the Music Died, as Don McLean ... More


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Flashback
On a day like today, Italian painter and sculptor Umberto Boccioni was born
October 19, 1882. Umberto Boccioni (19 October 1882 - 17 August 1916) was an Italian painter and sculptor. Like other Futurists, his work centered on the portrayal of movement (dynamism), speed, and technology. He was born in Reggio Calabria, Italy. In this image: Francesca Rossi, curator in charge of the Sforzesco Castle drawings collection, looks at a work by Umberto Boccioni, in the same room where sketches by mannerist painter Simone Peterzano are preserved, in Milan, Friday, July 6, 2012.

  
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