| | Unpublished Fayum Portraits Come to Life at the National Archaeology Museum in Madrid
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Visitors look at the portrait titled 'A woman portrait' displayed during the exhibition 'Without a Visible Future Fayum's Portraits + Adrian Paci' held at the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, Spain, 30 May 2011. The exhibition features thirteen Fayum mummy portraits, commonly painted in this Egyptian region during the Roman occupation between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, alongside the Albanian artist's video Centro di Permanenza temporanea. This exhibition is part of the 14th annual 'PhotoEspana Festival' that will be held in Madrid from June 1 to July 24. EPA/BALLESTEROS.
MADRID.- The Fayum Mummy Portraits continue to surprise to this day with their modern sensibility and vitality. Made between the first and fourth centuries A.D. they come from the tomb of Al- Fayum as well as from other places across Egypt, and they are borne of a mixture of Greek encaustic painting, Roman realism, and Egyptian funerary rituals. The exhibition Fayum Portraits + Adrian Paci: No Visible Future, organized by the Ministry of Culture, National Archeology Museum and PHotoEspaña posits these paintings as the earliest antecedent of photography since, in a manner similar to ID photos, the painters portray with the greatest possible exactitude the characteristics of their subjects so that the souls of the dead could recognize them – hence the portraits’ simplicity and accuracy. John Berger dedicated one of his most elegant texts to these works; in it, he relates them to the migrations of our time. This exhibition seeks to pay them homage, bringing together 13 po ... More |
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Art Gallery of Ontario Presents Abstract Expressionist Exhibition from MoMA
Mark Rothko, No. 5/No. 22. 1950 (dated on reverse 1949). Oil on canvas, 9’ 9” x 8’ 11 1/8”. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Imaging Services.
TORONTO.- Jackson Pollock. Mark Rothko. Robert Motherwell. Joan Mitchell. Franz Kline. Lee Krasner. Willem de Kooning. These are just a few of the legendary 20th-century artists whose artwork is now on view at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in an unprecedented international exclusive. Abstract Expressionist New York: Masterpieces from The Museum of Modern Art, on view until September 4, features more than 100 works from the unparalleled collection of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) by the legendary artists whose drips, splatters, and fields of incredible colour catapulted New York to the centre of the international art world in the 1950s and changed the course of art history forever. “MoMA’s collection of Abstract Expressionist works is not only unparalleled, it is defining. To be the only international art museum to be given the opportunity to share ... More | | Christie's Hong Kong Spring 2011 Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art Achieves New Milestone
The top lot in the Asian Contemporary day sale was Zeng Fanzhi’s ‘Andy Warhol’, which sold for HK$9,620,000 /US$1,240,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2011.
HONG KONG.- Christie’s concluded its Hong Kong Spring Evening and Day sales of Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art on 29 May, 2011, totaling HK$761,514,250/ US$97,854,581. The sales were 82% sold by lot and 94% sold by value. Five lots sold in excess of HK$30,000,000 /US$3,855,000 and seventeen lots over HK$10,000,000 /US$1,285,000. Eighteen world auction records were achieved for a broad range of works, including twelve lots by Chinese artists, three by Japanese artists, two by Koreans and one Indian work. These included Japanese artist Zenzaburo Kojima’s ‘Nude Reclining on Yellow Chair’ (HK$2,660,000 / US$341,810) and Chinese artist Pang Jiun’s ‘A passerby hears a fair maiden’s laughter in the garden ring’ (HK$2,420,000 / US$310,970). The Evening Sale – the highest ever sale in this category - totaled HK$492,660,000 /US$63,306,810 and particularly demonstrated the solid dem ... More | | Beneath Jerusalem, An Undergound City that Existed 2,000 Years Ago Takes Shape
ultra-orthodox Jewish men pray in the Western Wall tunnel in Jerusalem's Old City. AP Photo/Bernat Armangue.
By: Matti Friedman, Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP).- Underneath the crowded alleys and holy sites of old Jerusalem, hundreds of people are snaking at any given moment through tunnels, vaulted medieval chambers and Roman sewers in a rapidly expanding subterranean city invisible from the streets above. At street level, the walled Old City is an energetic and fractious enclave with a physical landscape that is predominantly Islamic and a population that is mainly Arab. Underground Jerusalem is different: Here the noise recedes, the fierce Middle Eastern sun disappears, and light comes from fluorescent bulbs. There is a smell of earth and mildew, and the geography recalls a Jewish city that existed 2,000 years ago. Archaeological digs under the disputed Old City are a matter of immense sensitivity. For Israel, the tunnels are proof of the depth of Jewish roots here, and this has made the tunnels one of Jerusalem's main tourist draws: The number of visitors, mostly Jews and Christians, ... More |
Fotomuseum Winterthur Presents Alexander Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography
Alexander Rodchenko, Caricature Showing Osip Brik, variant of a cover for LEF Magazine, 1924. Gelatin-silver print, 24,2 x 17,9 cm. Private collection © Rodchenko’s Archive / 2011, ProLitteris, Zurich.
WINTERTHUR.- Fotomuseum Winterthur presents Alexander Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography, on view from May 28th until 14 August 2011. Modernism made photography what it is. It gave it self-confidence and made it trust itself. Self-confident because photography in the 1920s recognized and developed its own possibilities and qualities: a probing vision of the world, an investigation of the visible reality from various perspectives, direct, clear, from above, below, behind, from the front, but without references to the pool of art history. Russian Constructivism is an important part of this great shift. In 1924, Alexander Rodchenko (1891–1956), already known as a painter, sculptor, and designer, conquered traditional photography with the slogan “Our duty is to experiment!” This resulted in a reconsideration of the concept and role of photography. Conceptual work ... More | | Seven New Maya Archaeological Sites Registered in Yucatan by INAH Specialists
Cuzam archaeological site. Photo: Archaeologist Luis Pantoja/INAH.
MEXICO CITY.- Specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) identified seven new Prehispanic Maya sites and a high concentration of human burials in the town of Sitpach, located east of Merida, Yucatan. The finding took place as result of the Merida Region Archaeological Project (Parme, by its acronym in Spanish), developed by Centro INAH Yucatan, which consists in carrying out archaeological rescue on construction sites located in urban areas and suburbs of Merida, 4 to 6 kilometers outside the city. The new sites registered by INAH in Sitpach are Oxmul, Polok Ceh, Cuzam, Chan Much, Nichak, Tzak and Chankiuik. They are located in an area covering approximately 1,000 hectares. In Oxmul, a large concentration of Prehispanic human burials was found: 75 individuals were buried with polychrome vessels found for the first time in the Maya region. It has been estimated that the remains date from the Te ... More | | Cindy Sherman, Thomas Ruff, Frank Montero Collado and the 1000 Controversial Faces of Portraiture
Untitled (ABCDE), 1975 / 1985. © Cindy Sherman. SAMMLUNG VERBUND, Vienna.
MADRID.- The exhibition 1000 Faces/0 Faces/1 Face. Cindy Sherman, Thomas Ruff, Frank Montero Collado unite two great contemporary artists who have dealt, in depth, with the complexities inherent in representing the subject, with Frank Montero, a complete stranger whose photos of the 19th and early 20th centuries are being shown for the first time. The exhibition, under the thematic official section Interfaces: Portraiture and Communication of PHotoEspaña 2011, will be hosted at Sala Alcalá 31 of Comunidad de Madrid. Juxtaposing the images of the three artists, the exposition meditates on the intricate paths of identity, representation, and communication in art and contemporary society. The work of Cindy Sherman (United States, 1954) constitutes a monumental investigation of identity and the powers of representation in a photographic programme that is acted out rather than staged. For decades she has developed the seemingly impossible project of ... More |
Successful 'Picasso in Paris' Exhibition Attracts 471,168 Visitors at Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam
An artwork, titled Self Portrait with Palette, by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is on display during an exhibition, titled Picasso in Paris, 1900-1907, at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. EPA/TOUSSAINT KLUITERS.
AMSTERDAM.- The exhibition provided the first opportunity in the Netherlands to see a major overview of how Pablo Ruiz y Picasso (1881-1973) developed from a young unknown artist in the culturally bustling city of Paris into the leader of the avant-garde. The exhibition included more than seventy works of art, including such masterpieces as Self-portrait with a pallet and Moulin de la Galette and important works from private collections and museums such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. As many as 471,168 art lovers visited the exhibition Picasso in Paris, 1900-1907. “This means that three out of every four visitors to our museum also visited the Picasso exhibition, a remarkably high figure. This makes this exhibition one of the best visited in the history of our museum. ... More | | Journeyings: Recent Works on Paper by Frank Bowling RA at the Royal Academy
Frank Bowling RA (b. 1936), Octoberbloom II, 2009. Acrylic paint and gel on paper. Copyright the artist. Photo: Royal Academy of Arts / Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.
LONDON.- An exhibition exploring recent works on paper by the painter Frank Bowling RA is on view from May 27 through October 23, 2011 at the Royal Academy of Arts. Bowling’s art reflects his travels, actual and aesthetic, between his birthplace of British Guiana (now Guyana) and his homes and studios in London and New York; between the tradition of English landscape painting and the legacy of American Abstract Expressionism. Similar to the much larger paintings on canvas for which Bowling is renowned, these works in acrylic paint and gel on heavy paper have a powerful physical presence created by their vibrant colours and tactile surfaces. These works originated in Bowling’s need to find a new way to paint and their gestural quality seems magnified by their smaller scale. The works are abstract, yet the viewer is led to figurative or representational associations by the artist’s obvious preoccupation w ... More | | Art 42 Basel Announces an Array of High-Calibre Works for this Year's Art Parcours
Kris Martin, Festum II, 2010 (detail). Bronze. Courtesy Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; White Cube. Photo: Stephen White.
BASEL.- This year's Art Parcours sector for Art 42 Basel will present artworks at various historical locations in the city of Basel. After the introduction of Art Parcours in 2010 on the Münsterhügel, the 2011 edition will use different venues in the St. Alban Tal area along the Rhine. From Wednesday, June 15 until Sunday, June 19, ten locations will be transformed by site-specific artworks and performances created by a number of renowned international artists. This array of high-calibre works, curated by Jens Hoffmann, Director of the CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, will engage with Basel’s past and present, weaving artistic interventions into the fabric of the city. Venues in Basel's St. Alban Tal area include fishing houses along the river, a large cargo ship, sections of the old city wall, one of the oldest buildings in Basel (known for a historical mural depicting the myth of Wilhelm Tell), the St. Alban churc ... More |
Churches Aim to Restore Historic Organ After World Trade Center Terror Attacks
John Bishop, executive director of the Massachusetts-based Organ Clearing House, measures the keys on an 1846 Aeolian Skinner organ. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty.
By: Jeff Martin, Associated Press
JOHNS CREEK, GA. (AP).- The soaring sounds of a pipe organ silenced when dust from the collapsing World Trade Center invaded its church sanctuary nearly a decade ago could soon fill a place of worship once again. The historic instrument was dismantled and put in storage days after the terror attacks and hasn't been played since. Now, as the 10-year anniversary of the attacks approaches, Trinity Wall Street is donating the instrument to Johns Creek United Methodist Church outside Atlanta, leaders from both churches confirmed this week. "There are many who have prayed that it will rise again and bring glorious music once more," the Rev. D. B. Shelnutt Jr. told his ... More | | Secession Presents the Work of American Artist, Musician, and Composer Stephen Prina
Stephen Prina, As He Remembered It, Secession 2011, Installation view, Photo: Wolfgang Thaler-
VIENNA.- The work of American artist, musician, and composer Stephen Prina is characterized by his appropriation of works by other artists, which he then places in new contexts. This is also the approach taken in his new project As He Remembered It, developed specially for the Hauptraum at the Secession, and in the four new works in his series Exquisite Corpse: The Complete Paintings of Manet. The exhibition is on view from May 27th through August 21st, 2011. The point of departure for As He Remembered It is a memory from the 1980s, shared with artist Christopher Williams, of a fitted unit by architect R. M. Schindler that is taken out of its original context, painted, and recontextualized as an independent object. To bring this personal anecdote to the Hauptraum of the Secession, Prina chose two now-demolished houses built ... More | | Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Displays War Rugs from Afghanistan
Dr. Brian Spooner is seen with a rug from the 1980s featuring Soviet weapons. AP Photo/Matt Rourke.
By Kathy Matheson, Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA, PA (AP).- From afar, the ornate rug looks like a blur of color and nondescript geometric patterns. But a closer look reveals the unmistakable shapes of helicopters, tanks and weapons. The Oriental carpet from war-torn Afghanistan exemplifies a traditional craft with a modern twist. It's one of more than 60 on display at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia through July. U.S. and Canadian soldiers buy many of the rugs as souvenirs, and the textiles show the intersection of art, commerce, tourism and war, experts say. "People who are in pretty severe circumstances will make what sells," exhibit curator Max Allen said. For centuries, rug-makers have woven colorful threads to depict flowers, ... More |
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 Last Surviving Austrian Who Hid Jews Honored VIENNA (AP).- It was 1942 in Hitler's Austria, a time when a late-night knock on the door could have resulted in deportation or death. Edeltrud Becher shuddered as she heard the rap of knuckles from unannounced visitors. She opened the door — and gasped: Instead of the Gestapo, her Jewish fiance and his two brothers were on the doorstep, looking nervously over their shoulders. The three had fled to Prague after the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. But by 1942, that city too was in the hands of Hitler's henchmen. The three were told to pack essentials for deportation to a concentration camp. They wrote suicide notes to make authorities think they were dead, and then did what no one thought any Jew would do — they took a night train straight to Vienna, back into the heartland of the Nazi Reich. In deciding to protect them from the Nazis that night, Becher — now Edeltrud Posiles — embarked on a dangerous game ... More YouTube Play Recognized at Tribeca Film FestivalNEW YORK, NY.- On April 26, YouTube Play. A Biennial of Creative Video was recognized at the second annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards. One of the major non-film events at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, the Disruptive Innovation Awards celebrate progress from unexpected and untraditional places. Deputy Director and Chief Curator Nancy Spector received the award and attended on behalf of the project. Other honorees, who came from a variety of institutions and organizations, included Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, recipient of this year’s lifetime achievement award; Keith Richards, recognized for his “Open G Tuning” method of guitar playing; and U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, adjunct fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and director of Google Ideas. Spector was featured on a panel discussion moderated by Tribeca Film Festival's Chief Creative Offic ... More First Solo Exhibition in the Netherlands of the Versatile French Artist Raphael Zarka at Stroom Den HaagTHE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS.- Stroom Den Haag presents the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands of the versatile French artist Raphaël Zarka, on view from May 29 through August 21, 2011. "Nature is an infinite sphere whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere." This poetic quote from the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal could refer to the broad spectrum and the continuous character of Zarka's work and the link between his various projects. In addition to sculptures and photographs the exhibition at Stroom features his latest production 'Gibellina Vecchia'. In this short film Zarka meticulously records the monumental artwork Alberto Burri created in the 1980s on the ruins of the Sicilian town of Gibellina, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1968. Raphaël Zarka (1977, Montpellier) is fascinated by forgotten spaces and undefined areas, where ... More Nearly 200 Gather to Dedicate Jonestown MemorialOAKLAND, CA (AP).- Nearly 200 people gathered at Oakland's Evergreen Cemetery on Sunday to dedicate a newly completed memorial to the victims of the 1978 mass murder and suicide at Jonestown, Guyana, organizers said. The afternoon ceremony came after a judge last week denied a motion seeking to block further use of the monument at the cemetery, where more than 400 unidentified and unclaimed victims are buried in a mass grave. The $45,000 monument, which consists of four large granite slabs embedded in the ground and etched with the names of the dead, has sparked controversy because it includes the name of Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones among the 917 other people who died. "People from around the country came to be here," said Fielding McGehee, who edits the online Jonestown Report and who lost in-laws in the violence. "It was a beautiful day and everything that we hope for all came ... More Hamas Founder Remembered in New MuseumGAZA CITY (AP).- The Hamas militant group has turned the modest home of its founder into a museum — seven years after the wheelchair-bound Palestinian cleric was killed in an Israeli airstrike as he was wheeled out of a mosque. The Sheik Ahmed Yassin museum, located in an alleyway in the rundown Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, has become a popular destination since it opened last month. Dozens of schoolchildren and well-wishers visit each day. Yassin, who was paralyzed in a childhood accident, was hit by a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter on March 22, 2004. The assassination came at a time of heavy Israeli-Palestinian fighting, and Israel described Yassin as a "mastermind of Palestinian terror." "The sheik was the leader of the resistance movement in Palestine," said his son, Abdel Hamid Yassin, who was wounded with his father in the airstrike. "This house was the house of the nation." Yassin, ... More Palestinian Makes Artistic Mark on PassportsBy: Jihan Abdalla
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (REUTERS).- It is like no other passport control on earth. No stern official sitting behind a glass wall, no scanning of travel documents, no terse questions about where you are going. Instead, a lone artist greets arriving visitors and politely asks them if they would like an entry stamp. Living in occupied territory, the Palestinians do not have the right to set up their own frontier controls. Anyone who passes through Israeli checkpoints is swiftly absorbed into the bustling streets of West Bank cities like Ramallah. But art student Khaled Jarrar has decided to fill the institutional void with a dainty entry stamp of his own design, which he offers to foreigners as they tumble out of the buses. "I believe in art that makes a difference, that talks about change. My art is making a political statement," said Jarrar, spurning traditional galleries for Ramallah's chaotic central bus station. While many tourists arriving from nearby Jerusale ... More |
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