| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Wednesday, February 15, 2023 |
| | When a visit to the museum becomes an ethical dilemma | |
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A 16th-century Benin Bronze sculpture at the Humboldt Forum, a Berlin museum that has begun to repatriate some of the artifacts to Nigeria, Jan. 31, 2023. The bronzes were taken from the Kingdom of Benin in 1897 by British forces. (Andreas Meichsner/The New York Times)
by Charly Wilder
NEW YORK, NY.- On a recent morning, visitors trickled into the Africa wing of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, a massive museum that opened in 2021 in a neo-Baroque reconstruction of the citys former Royal Palace. The setup was familiar: Artifacts were enclosed behind glass and mounted onto white walls an ethnological display of priceless artworks from a far-off land. But this exhibition was different. Dozens of Benin Bronzes, intricate sculptures and plaques in metal that date back as far as the 13th century, were on display in Berlin for what may be the last time. Since July 2021, the artifacts no longer belong to Germany. They are part of a trove the country has begun to repatriate to Nigeria, beginning in December with the return of 20 bronzes. The exhibition tells not just the story of the objects, but also of their theft in 1897, when British forces sacked Benin City, looting the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin in what is now southwest Nigeria. Diagrams explain how th ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Artemis Gallery will hold its Ancient / Ethnographic Art Through The Ages sale on Feb 16, 2023 9:00 AM CST. The sale features antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Italy and the Near East, as well as Asian Art, Fossils, Pre-Columbian, Native American, African/Tribal / Oceanic, Fine / Visual art, and much more! 18th C. French Gold Fob Seal w/ Armorial Crest. Estimate $3,000 - $4,500.
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| Carlos Saura, a leading and enduring Spanish director, dies at 91 | | LACMA acquires largest collection of blockchain artworks | | Hauser & Wirth opens an exhibition of recent paintings by Rita Ackermann | 
Called one of the fundamental filmmakers in the history of Spanish cinema, he began making movies under Franco, often hiding his messages in allegory.
NEW YORK, NY.- Carlos Saura, a Spanish director who began making films during the regime of Francisco Franco and was still making them at his death, exploring Spanish identity through allegory-rich storytelling and, later, vividly capturing flamenco and other art forms, died Friday. He was 91. The Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain said he died at his home but did not say where. The next day, the Goya Awards, Spains annual film awards, had planned to present him with the Honorary Goya Award in recognition of his having shaped the history of modern Spanish cinema, as the organization put it when announcing the award in October. Instead, he received the statuette a few days before his death, the organization said. It called him one of the fundamental filmmakers in the history of Spanish cinema. Saura was a photographer who began making short films ... More | | 
Yam Karkai, Woman n°001, 2021, .JPG delivered as an NFT, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, promised gift of The Cozomo de' Medici Collection, © Yam Karkai, image courtesy of the artist.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced today the first and largest collection of artworks minted on blockchain to enter an American art museum. Thanks to a generous gift from collector Cozomo de Medici, 22 digital artworks by a group of 13 international artistsfrom Brazil, Canada, China, England, Germany, Portugal, and the United Statesare now part of or promised to the museums permanent collection. With works spanning 2017 to 2022, the collection reflects a boom of artistic experimentation with web3 technologies like blockchain that have been budding since the 2010s. For decades, artists have incorporated technology within their practice, and the intersection of art and technology has been central to LACMAs programming since the 60s," said Michael Govan ... More | | 
Rita Ackermann, Sandman's Dust II, 2022. Oil and pigment on unique monotype print, 76.2 x 57.2 cm / 30 x 22 1/2 in.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Hauser & Wirth presents Vertical Vanish, an exhibition of recent paintings by Hungarian-born artist Rita Ackermann. Vertical Vanish opened 2 February, and will remain on view in the North Gallery of Hauser & Wirths Downtown Los Angeles Arts District complex through 30 April. This is Ackermanns first West Coast exhibition with the gallery. Composed primarily of large-scale oil paintings that intuitively recast the interplay of line, color and form, Vertical Vanish makes a game of repeated gestures, figures and motifs. Pre-drawn scenes obscurely emerge from the background, only to disappear into impasto fields of imbricated color. Through a series of gestural interventions guided by the artists hand an admixture of drawing, painting and erasure oil paints, China markers and acrylics are heavily worked onto surfaces of canvas or raw linen ... More |
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| National Gallery of Art acquires painting by Kiki Kogelnik and 17th-century nautilus cup | | The collection of bohemian artist Xavier Martinez and his family goes up for bid at Turner Auctions + Appraisals | | 'Robert Mangold: Paintings and Works on Paper 1989-2022' on view at Pace | 
Dutch and Swedish 17th Century, Nautilus Cup, c. 1650 (etching), c. 1670 (mount), nautilus shell (nacreous layer with etched low relief), silver, and gilded silver height: 32 cm (12 5/8 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington Patrons' Permanent Fund 2022.124.1
WASHINGTON, DC.- The National Gallery of Art has recently acquired Kiki Kogelniks Night (1964), from the artists breakthrough series depicting techno-bodies and avatars floating in vibrant compositions of bold shapes and patterns. Born in Graz, Austria, Kogelnik grew up in the southern town of Bleiburg, making her way to the Academy of Applied Arts and then the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where she studied graphic art, painting, and sculpture from 1954 to 1958. In the late 1950s, she painted in the gestural abstract style favored by many European artists of the period. By 1962 she had moved to New York, energized by the thriving artistic community. In an era shaped by the Space Race and the Cold War, Kogelnik became fascinated with the uncertainties and possibilities of a technology-driven future. At the end of 1963 and in early 1964 ... More | | 
Xavier Martinez (1869-1943), Hillside Landscape with Bay Beyond, c. 1900s (detail). Oil on board, 11in x 13 7/8in. Estimate: $1,000-$2,000.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Turner Auctions + Appraisals will present The Collection of Bohemian Artist Xavier Martinez and His Family on Saturday, February 25, 2023, at 10:30 am PST. Featuring over 200 lots, the auction spans about 110 years and five generations related to famed Northern California artist Xavier Martinez (1869-1943). Items include artworks created by and gifted to Martinez, art produced by members of subsequent generations, and a wide range of other family possessions saved through the years such as photos, correspondence, books, ephemera, and more. Never seen before by the public, this historical collection is sourced from the familys multi-generational homes in Northern California first in Piedmont and Carmel, then in Pebble Beach. Several pairs of Chinese vases from other collectors round out the sale. Besides an array of artworks by Martinez, there are paintings, drawings, sketches, etchings ... More | | 
Plane Structure 9, 2022. Acrylic on canvas, 120 à 131.4 cm © Robert Mangold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
SEOUL.- Pace is presenting a survey exhibition of work by Robert Mangoldwho for over six decades has investigated the possibilities of shape, line, and color as they relate to paintingat its recently expanded arts complex in Seoul. On view from 20 January to 11 March, Robert Mangold: Paintings and Works on Paper 19892022, the artists first solo show in South Korea in nearly 30 years, features paintings created by the artist between the late 1980s and the present day as well as a selection of his works on paper. Mangold has been a key figure in painting since the 1960s. Exploring the fundamental elements of composition, the artist has created boundary-pushing geometric abstractions on shaped canvases that charted new frontiers within the medium. He is part of a legacy forged with other major figures of Conceptualism and Minimalism, including his close friends Sol LeWitt and Robert Ryman and his wife Sylvia Plimack ... More |
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| Exhibitions present a retrospective of the history of printmaking over a period of six centuries | | Burt Bacharach, whose buoyant pop confections lifted the '60s, dies at 94 | | Cantor Art Gallery showcases the famed Chertsey Tiles and the visual culture of medieval Europe | 
Edvard Munch, Selbstporträt (mit Knochenarm), 1895. Lithographie mit Lithokreide. Albertina Museum, Vienna.
VIENNA.- The Albertina presents a retrospective of the history of printmaking over a period of six centuries, from Albrecht Dürer and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to Kiki Smith and Damien Hirst. The two exhibitions planned as a pas de deux - at both Albertina locations - span from works of the late Middle Ages to the prints of contemporary art. The two exhibitions are joined by a third, as it were, dedicated solely to the most important printmaker of the 20th century: Picasso. The first exhibit, 'Dürer. Munch. Miró - The Great Masters of Printmaking' will open at the Albertina at the end of January. It presents outstanding works of the so-called 'Old Masters' - including Albrecht Dürer, Pieter Bruegel, Rembrandt van Rijn - and leads up to the impressive works of modern and contemporary art. The second part of the exhibition will be at the Albertina Modern from the end of February. It presents 20th century artist that radically broke ... More | | 
His sophisticated collaborations with the lyricist Hal David The Look of Love, Walk On By, Alfie and many more hits evoked a sleek era of airy romance.
by Stephen Holden
NEW YORK, NY.- Burt Bacharach, the debonair pop composer, arranger, conductor, record producer and occasional singer whose hit songs in the 1960s distilled that decades mood of romantic optimism, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94. His publicist Tina Brausam confirmed the death. No specific cause was given. A die-hard romantic whose mature style might be described as Wagnerian lounge music, Bacharach fused the chromatic harmonies and long, angular melodies of late-19th century symphonic music with modern, bubbly pop orchestration, and embellished the resulting mixture with a staccato rhythmic drive. His effervescent compositions epitomized sophisticated hedonism to a generation of young adults only a few years older than the Beatles ... More | | 
Installation view.
WORCESTER, MASS.- The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross, is presenting the upcoming exhibition Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece. Bringing together loans from the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston among other institutions, the exhibition is on view from Jan. 26 through Apr. 6, 2023. Bringing the Holy Land Home focuses around the well-known Chertsey combat tiles, a series that was created around 1250 for the Chertsey Abbey, and most likely originally commissioned for the English royal palace at Westminster. The tiles were excavated from the ruined Abbey of Chertsey in the late-19th century, and are now housed in several different institutions across Britain, including the British Museum. The exhibition is guest curated by Dr. Aman ... More |
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| John McInnis Auctioneers announces an online-only Asian Collections Auction | | Organizations partner to digitize archive connected to Black and Native American soldiers from the Revolutionary War | | The Drawing Room presents an exhibition of Mary Ellen Bartley's Morandi's Books photographs | 
18th century Tibetan thangka (Tibetan Buddhist painting), 28 inches by 24 inches (framed), Tsongkhapa pigment on canvas laid to paperboard (est. $1,500-$3,000).
AMESBURY, MASS.- An Asian Collections Auction featuring the personal private collection of Dr. Allan Bezan of Chestnut Hill, Mass., plus other prominent estates from greater Boston, will be held on Saturday, February 25th, starting at 10 am Eastern time, by John McInnis Auctioneers. This will be a timed online auction, with bidding offered exclusively on LiveAuctioneers.com. The catalog is packed with nearly 700 lots of Japanese and Chinese items, to include fine art, fine furniture, porcelains, bronzes, ceramics, snuff bottles and more. All items will be sold to the highest bidder without reserves, and all lots will have a modest opening bid of ten dollars. Lots 1-250 will comprise the Japanese collection; lots 275-680 will comprise the Chinese collection. The expected top lot of the auction actually isnt Asian at all ... More | | 
The digitized archive will be available for free and accessible to all on Ancestry®.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Timothy Caesar. Cuff Liberty. Jabez Pottage. Jonas Sunsaman. Nearly 200 rare documents bearing the names of Black and Native American soldiers who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War will soon be accessible to everyone at no cost, thanks to a new partnership between Philadelphias Museum of the American Revolution and Ancestry®, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics . The Patriots of Color Archive was acquired by the Museum in 2022 from a private collection, following the generous contributions of several donors. The collection of original muster rolls, pay vouchers, enlistment papers, discharge forms, and other documents was assembled from auctions, rare manuscript dealers, and other collectors over the past two decades. As part of their commitment to preserving history that is at-risk ... More | | 
Mel Kendrick, Untitled.
EAST HAMPTON, NY.- The Drawing Room is presenting two exhibitions on view through Sunday March 12, 2023: Morandis Books new photographs by Mary Ellen Bartley and, Compositions: Laurie Lambrecht, Alison Rossiter and Mel Kendrick. In photography, sculpture or weaving each artist explores temporality and dynamic strategies in their artistic practices. In their unique methods, Kendrick, Rossiter and Lambrecht create works that slow time, allowing the viewer to see the progression of their decisions. Mel Kendrick carves painted blocks of wood into unique shapes that he rearranges, holding the memory of their original unity in a new composition. In Alison Rossiters photographic process she exposes geometric shapes of light onto expired photographic papers with deteriorated emulsion. Laurie Lambrechts tapestries reveal their photographic origins in her evocative grids, layering, embroidery and weaving ... More |
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| More News |
 Museum of Architectural Drawing opens an exhibition of works by Italian architect Aldo Rossi BERLIN.- The exhibition Aldo Rossi. Insulae at the Museum of Architectural Drawing, shown in collaboration with the Fondazione Aldo Rossi in Milan, presents over 110 graphic works and drawings by the renowned Italian architect Aldo Rossi (19311997), the majority of which are being shown publicly for the first time. The title is taken from a series of Rossi's drawings shown in the exhibition from a Latin word insula referring to a separately standing house, a method of construction that Rossi often incorporated in his architecture. The exhibition consists of three parts: Corpus Mediolanensis, Insula and Works for Berlin. These three insulae seek to show Rossis unmistakable signature, including his sense of forms and geometry, his historical references, the influence of antiquity on his work and his frequent poetic references to both architecture and art. An introduction ... More  Robert Geddes, 99, transformative Architecture Dean at Princeton, diesNEW YORK, NY.- Robert Geddes, the transformative first dean of Princetons School of Architecture and an architect of elegant modernist buildings, many in New Jersey and his native Pennsylvania, died Monday at his home outside Princeton, New Jersey. He was 99. His son, David Geddes, confirmed the death. As an educator, Geddes worked to put architecture on an equal footing with other academic disciplines. Before he arrived at Princeton in 1965, beginning a 17-year tenure there as dean, architecture was part of the art and archaeology department and taught from a fine arts perspective. Geddes forged ties to social scientists (even giving sociologists appointments in the architecture school) and to policy experts in the universitys School of Public and International Affairs, to enrich his urban planning curriculum. He had a vision of architecture as a complex ... More  For Burt Bacharach, 'Promises, Promises' was one Broadway hit too manyNEW YORK, NY.- In the late 1960s, when Broadway show tunes and popular music were veering in opposite directions, producer David Merrick, one of the most hidebound curmudgeons on Broadway, reached out to one of the most successful American pop composers of the time: Burt Bacharach. Bacharach (who died on Feb. 8 at age 94) had more than a dozen international hits with his lyricist partner, Hal David, including Walk on By, Alfie, I Say a Little Prayer and The Look of Love. That last song was introduced in the spy parody Casino Royale, and, in fact, Bacharach had met Merrick at that movies London premiere in 1967. They agreed to work together if the right project came along. Bacharach wasnt exactly bedazzled by the bright lights of Broadway. When I was getting successful with pop songs, and having hits, there wasnt something burning inside me that said ... More  Dresser masterpiece emerges on top at Bonhams saleLONDON.- A Conical Sugar Bowl, designed by the pioneering 19th century designer Christopher Dresser (1834-1904), and made around 1885 by Elkington & Co. sold for £43,140 at the Unity in Variety: The David Bonsall Collection of Decorative Arts and Design sale in London today (Tuesday 14 February 2023). It had been estimated at £15,000-20,000. Other highlights included: A French table with Dinanderie legs circa 1935. (Dinanderie is the French term for copper and brass craftsmanship. It derives from the present-day Belgian town of Dinant, a noted centre of copper production in the 11th century and subsequently. Sold for £25,500 (estimate: £1,000-1,500) A wardrobe (no.372) designed by Sir Ambrose Heal dating from around 1903. Sold for £9,563 (estimate: £1,200-1,800). An exquisite wooden box with inset enamel plaque from around 1928 designed by Mathilde Flögl ... More  Annie Morris and Idris Khan present their practices side by side in new exhibition at Newlands HousePETWORTH.- Two Worlds Entwined: Annie Morris and Idris Khan is the UKs first exhibition to explore the individual practices of artist couple Annie Morris and Idris Khan side by side. Over 60 works transform the gallery into the artists creative realm, including significant pieces which have defined their careers; new sculptures and artist furniture by Annie Morris; and new paintings by Idris Khan. Two bodies of work inspired by the Sussex countryside are also being presented. A first for Newlands House, the artists have responded to the Georgian architecture and home environment of the building. Morris filled the space with wall drawings, sculptures, objects, tapestries and two new upholstered armchairs, while the walls in one of the rooms have been transformed into a giant canvas for the artist to draw her distinctive art on. Khan presents a cross section of works from his career ... More  Stuart Lochhead Sculpture announces its participation in TEFAF Maastricht 2023 LONDON.- Stuart Lochhead Sculpture returns to Maastricht for the third year, following the great success of 2020, when the gallery sold a bust by the royal baroque sculptor François Girardon to the Château de Versailles, and 2022, with the sale of an important French Renaissance sculpture of the Madonna and Child to the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. Highlights at the fair will include: A unique, monumental Bust of Eugène Delacroix by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887). The bust was created to celebrate Delacroix, the father of Romanticism and the greatest French painter of his generation. It was at the centre of the ceremonies organised on the first anniversary of the painters death at the Galerie Martinet in 1864. In front of it, the poet Théophile Gautier carried a toast in honour of Delacroix, during a memorable banquet to which Manet and many ... More  Mellon, Ford, Getty, and Terra Foundations announce new $5M initiative designed to advance Latinx Art in museumsNEW YORK, NY.- Mellon, Ford, Getty, and Terra Foundations today announced Advancing Latinx Art in Museums (ALAM)the new initiative represents the second phase of a multi-year funding collaboration seeking to nurture and prioritize US Latinx art. The funding partners have committed a combined $5 million to the initiative, which will provide ten grants of $500,000 to institutions in support of the creation and formalization of 10 permanent early and mid-career curatorial positions with expertise in Latinx art. Latinx artistscreatives of Latin American or Caribbean descent who live and work in the UShave made significant and vital contributions to American culture for generations. ALAM is a collaborative initiative that aims to bolster museums and visual art organizations that have shown a commitment to collecting, studying, exhibiting, and engaging with Latinx art and artists by ensuring ... More  A nod to modernity and Japanese tradition in new show at Appleton Museum of ArtOCALA, FLA.- The Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida, presents Paper Thin & Shadow Deep: Hiromi Mizugai Moneyhun's Hand-Cut Paper Works, on view through June 19. Moneyhun moved to Jacksonville, FL in 2004 from her hometown of Kyoto, Japan. Her three-dimensional, cut-paper pieces are the result of a multistep process and are both traditional and modern at the same time. Her most significant early influence was ehon, a general term given to Japanese picture books, especially those that featured images taken from original paper cuts by Giro Takihira, who also was known as a woodblock print artist. Moneyhuns tenacious attention to detail and abundance of patience are exemplified in each of her works, and they invite the viewer in for closer inspection of her mastery of this technique. Moneyhun says, Creating art is an essential part of my life ... More  Adelson Galleries Palm Beach presents Man Ray: A Portrait of LovePALM BEACH, FLA.- One of the most renowned American modernist artists, Man Ray had a chance encounter with Juliet Browner in Los Angeles nearly 85 years ago that would change the course of his life forever. Born Emmanuel Radnitzky in Philadelphia in 1890, the eldest child of his Russian Jewish parents, Man Ray was a multitalented artist who made his name as a photographer, painter, and filmmaker. In 1911, he adopted the name Man Ray to abandon his immigrant identity and embrace his new life as an artist. He was part of the Dada and Surrealist movements in Europe and was known for his avant-garde style and unconventional approach to art. Man Ray fled Nazi-occupied Paris in 1940, where he had lived for 20 years, and made his way back to the United States. He took a road trip to Hollywood, California, and through a mutual friend, he met Juliet Browner on a blind date ... More  Sainsbury Centre becomes first UK museum to introduce universal 'Pay if and What You Can' ticketingNORWICH.- The Sainsbury Centre is the first museum in the UK to introduce a universal Pay if and What You Can ticketing system across the whole museum, breaking down the traditional boundary between the collection and temporary exhibition pricing. Common to most other institutions, the cutting-edge ideas and amazing art gathered in the regular Sainsbury Centre temporary exhibitions have sat behind what can be prohibitive, temporary exhibition price point of £14. Meantime the free to access permanent galleries have lacked the creative invention, dynamism and investment they merit. Introducing a single point of access to the vast exhibition space as well the captivating 20 acres of sculpture park set in the fields and woods around a Norfolk broad as part of the 350 acres of University of East Anglias campus will allow an entirely new approach to experiencing an arts landscape. ... More  Exhibition looks into a 1960 show housed by the Circolo Il Pozzetto in PaduaPARIS.- Tornabuoni Art Paris is presenting La nuova concezione artistica 1960 (A new artistic conception 1960) as its first appointment of 2023. This show looks into a 1960 exhibition housed by the Circolo Il Pozzetto in Padua, which had previously been held in Milan at the Azimut Gallery. The exhibition La nuova concezione artistica (A new artistic conception) presented together for the first time works by Alberto Biasi, Enrico Castellani, Heinz Mack, Piero Manzoni and Manfredo Massironi, giving an overview of the transformations which were underway in the panorama of post-war Italian and European art. A renewal of the conception of the arts was ongoing following the pioneering work of Lucio Fontana whose Concetto Spaziale. Attese completely broke with the traditional ideas of painting and sculpture. Elements such as absence, the void and monochrome inhabited the production ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Gabriele Münter 
TARWUK 
Awol Erizku 
Leo Villareal
Flashback On a day like today, French painter Charles-André van Loo was born February 15, 1705. Carle or Charles-André van Loo (15 February 1705 - 15 July 1765) was a French subject painter, son of the painter Louis-Abraham van Loo, a younger brother of Jean-Baptiste van Loo and grandson of Jacob van Loo. He was the most famous member of a successful dynasty of painters of Dutch origin. His oeuvre includes every category: religion, history painting, mythology, portraiture, allegory, and genre scenes. In this image: Perseus and Andromeda.
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