NYC museums reopen, Kentucky gets its first public monument to a woman, an ancient burial ground was
Aug 21, 2020 • View in browser
NYC museums reopen, Kentucky gets its first public monument to a woman, an ancient burial ground was discovered in Japan, Magnum Photos will reexamine its archive, and more.
Top News
A pile of funerary urns that were unearthed in the southern part of the Umedahaka burial grounds in Osaka’s Kita Ward. (image courtesy Osaka City Cultural Properties Association)
A pile of funerary urns that were unearthed in the southern part of the Umedahaka burial grounds in Osaka’s Kita Ward. (image courtesy Osaka City Cultural Properties Association)
Plan your visit to see art in person again with our growing list of reopening dates at major New York City institutions.
An ancient burial ground with more than 1,500 bodies has been discovered at a redevelopment site in Osaka’s Kita Ward in Japan. Researchers believe it to be Umedahaka, one of seven historically significant graveyards in Osaka that dates back to the late Edo Period (1603–1867 CE).
Kentucky will raise a public statue of a woman for the first time in its history. The monument will honor teacher and principal Nettie Depp, who in 1913 became the first woman to be elected as Superintendent of Barren County Schools.
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago plans on converting its part-time visitor experience associate positions to full-time roles, shrinking the team from 28 to just eight employees, starting in September.
The Palestinian artist Mohamed Badarne has withdrawn from a forthcoming exhibition with the Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in protest of the Gulf country’s decision to normalize its relations with Israel in a Trump-brokered diplomatic agreement last week.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, the New York Public Library (NYPL) has released itsEssential Reads on Feminism,” a compilation of more than 200 non-fiction and fiction books for adults, teens, and children.
Brown Girls Doc Mafia, a collective of over 4,000 BIPOC women and nonbinary documentary film professionals, has launched a searchable directory of its members.
Magnum Photos, one of the world’s leading photo agencies, said it will reexamine its archive after facing allegations of selling photos that promote child abuse.
A recommendation to move a monument to Confederate general Robert E. Lee to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond was made unanimously by the Commission for Historical Statues in the United States Capitol during a meeting on August 7.
The tech giant Apple has filed a notice of opposition against the meal-planning app Prepear claiming that its logo, a green pear, “readily calls to mind Apple’s famous Apple Logo and creates a similar commercial impression.”
new text message bot developed by Code for Anchorage with data from the Canadian nonprofit Native Land encourages land acknowledgment by making it easier for those in the US to learn which Indigenous territories they’re standing on.
Awards & Accolades
Skowhegan 2020 honoree El Anatsui. Image credit October Gallery.
Skowhegan 2020 honoree El Anatsui. Image credit October Gallery.
The Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture named its 2020 awardees, which include the artist El Anatsui, the Foundation for Art & Preservation in Embassies, and the late curator Barbara Hunt McLanahan
BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, in Utrecht announced its 2020 Fellows.
Transactions
Agustín Querol y Subirats (Spanish, 1864–1909), A Baby Rolling Over, 1884–87. Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas (photo by Kevin Todora)
Agustín Querol y Subirats (Spanish, 1864–1909), A Baby Rolling Over, 1884–87. Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas (photo by Kevin Todora)
The Meadows Museum in Dallas, Texas announced the acquisition of five 17th and 18th century Spanish drawings and one 19th century terracotta sculpture. The drawings, which were purchased from Madrid’s De la Mano Gallery, include works by Mariano Salvador Maella, José Camarón Bonanat, Francisco de Herrera the Elder, and Pedro Duque Cornejo as well as an Alonso Cano drawing, a rare acquisition for a US museum as the bulk of his work belongs to Spanish institutions. The sculptural work, made by Catalan Moderrnist Agustín Querol y Subirats, depicts a baby rolling over and is the first piece of 19th century sculpture to enter the museum’s collection. It was donated by art historian Dr. Michael P. Mezzatesta and the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director Emeritus of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, in honor of Dr. William B. Jordan, the Meadow Museum’s founding director.
In Memoriam
Bill Arnett (1939–2020), collector of Black vernacular art | ARTnews
Ben Cross (1947–2020), London-born film actor | Associated Press
Ron Gorchov (1930–2020), abstract painter | ARTnews
Gisèle Halimi (1927–2020), French lawyer and activist | The New York Times
Luchita Hurtado (1920–2020), Venezuelan-American artist | The New York Times
John Nixon (1949–2020), Australian artist | The Sydney Morning Herald
Claire Shulman (1926–2020), former Queens borough president | The New York Times
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