| | Great Olmeca Treasures on View at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City
| | | | 
Olmec figures are seen during the preview of "Colossal masterworks of the Olmec world" exhibition at the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City. The exhibition has on display more than a hundred 4000-year-old pieces from the pre-Colombian Olmec civilisation. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso.
MEXICO CITY.- After the success at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and de Young Museum in San Francisco, in the United States, where nearly 600,000 persons visited it, the exhibition Colossal Masterworks from Olmeca World is now open at the National Museum of Anthropology (MNA), where visitors may admire two original colossal heads that weigh more than 4 tons each. Organized by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the exhibition offers a panorama of Olmeca civilization, starting from invaluable pieces found in different archaeological sites in the Gulf of Mexico area, where the civilization addressed as “mother culture” of Mesoamerica flourished 4,000 years ago. During a visit with communication media representatives, Miriam Kaiser, INAH Director of Exhibitions, explained that the show is comprised by 116 works, among them the Colossal Heads known as 5 and 9, of 4 and 6 tons of weight res ... More |
 |
Archaeologists Uncover Biblical Ruin Inside a Palestinian City in the West Bank
A Palestinian worker stands at the archeological park of Tel Balata in the West Bank city of Nablus. AP Photo/Bernat Armangue.
By: Matti Friedman, Associated Press
NABLUS (AP).- Archaeologists unearthing a biblical ruin inside a Palestinian city in the West Bank are writing the latest chapter in a 100-year-old excavation that has been interrupted by two world wars and numerous rounds of Mideast upheaval. Working on an urban lot that long served residents of Nablus as an unofficial dump for garbage and old car parts, Dutch and Palestinian archaeologists are learning more about the ancient city of Shekhem, and are preparing to open the site to the public as an archaeological park next year. The project, carried out under the auspices of the Palestinian Department of Antiquities, also aims to introduce the Palestinians of Nablus, who have been beset for much of the past decade by bloodshed and isolation, to the wealth of antiquities in ... More | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Uses Computer Models to Study Exoplanet Auroras
Earth's aurorae are created when energetic particles from the Sun slam into our planet's magnetic field.
CAMBRIDGE, MA.- Earth's aurorae, or Northern and Southern Lights, provide a dazzling light show to people living in the polar regions. Shimmering curtains of green and red undulate across the sky like a living thing. New research shows that aurorae on distant "hot Jupiters" could be 100-1000 times brighter than Earthly aurorae. They also would ripple from equator to poles (due to the planet's proximity to any stellar eruptions), treating the entire planet to an otherworldly spectacle. "I'd love to get a reservation on a tour to see these aurorae!" said lead author Ofer Cohen, a SHINE-NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). Earth's aurorae are created when energetic particles from the Sun slam into our planet's magnetic field. The field guides solar particles toward the poles, where they smash into Earth's atmosphere, causing air molecules to glow like a neon sign. The same proce ... More | | Aldourie Castle in Scotland Announced as Winner of The Historic Houses Restoration Award 2011
Aldourie Castle - Exterior. Photo: Sotheby's.
LONDON.- The Historic Houses Association (HHA) and Sotheby’s announced that the winning entry of their Restoration Award for 2011 - an award now in its fourth year - is Aldourie Castle, on the southern shore of Loch Ness, near Inverness, Scotland. Aldourie Castle’s extensive programme of restoration has created an historic property for those wishing to experience the authenticity of a Scottish Baronial Castle and Estate at its best. Three commendations are also announced by the HHA and Sotheby’s: Iscoyd Park, near Whitchurch in Wales; Hoveton Hall (Glasshouse), Norwich, Norfolk; and Browsholme Hall (Tithe Barn), Clitheroe, Lancashire. The 2010 winner of the award was Wilton House near Salisbury in Wiltshire. Only a short distance from Inverness, Aldourie Castle was bought by Roger Tempest in 2004. The restoration work began in 2007 after it had remained unoccupied for three years. Nearly every aspect of the 57 ... More |
Metropolitan Museum Announces Highest Attendance in 40 Years: 5.68 Million
Noga Pnueli, left, Rayna White, second from left in one of the galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. AP Photo/Mary Altaffer.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that 5.68 million people visited the Met during the fiscal year that ended on June 30. The number, which includes attendance at The Cloisters museum and gardens, is the highest recorded in 40 years. The total was more than 400,000 greater than in Fiscal Year 2010. “We are delighted by this extraordinary response to our collections and programs, especially in the context of ongoing fiscal challenges faced by both the Museum and the public,” said Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO. “The Met is truly a museum of the world, and that scope is reflected in our collections and the remarkable range of visitors who come here each year. There is something for everyone within our galleries, and I have no doubt that we will continue to give audiences reasons to keep returning again and again. ” Visitors in Fiscal Year 2011 were particularly drawn to a numbe ... More | | First Dorothea Rockburne Retrospective on View at Parrish Art Museum
Dorothea Rockburne, Inner Voice, 1983. Oil on gessoed linen, 92 x 59 x 4 inches. Private Collection, New York © 2011 Dorothea Rockburne/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Billy Jim.
SOUTHAMPTON, NY.- Dorothea Rockburne: In My Mind’s Eye, the first career retrospective of this important and influential artist, is on view at the Parrish Art Museum. Organized by Alicia Longwell, Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator, Art and Education, In My Mind’s Eye surveys Rockburne’s work from the late 1960s to the present and range from such early iconic installation pieces as Scalar (1971) to the lushly painted Geometry of Stardust works (2009-2010). The exhibition remains on view through August 14. Among the more than fifty works in the exhibition are the monumentally-scaled wrinkle finish paint on steel Tropical Tan (1967–1968); the seminal crude oil, paper, and chipboard installation Intersection (1971); the remarkable shaped canvases such as I am Pascal (1986); and the recent watercolor on Dura-Lar works, including Three Point ... More | | Five International Buildings Shortlisted for the Prestigious RIBA 2011 Lubetkin Prize
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Boston, USA by Foster + Partners. Photo: © Chuck Choi.
LONDON.- The Royal Institute of British Architects announced the shortlist for the 2011 RIBA Lubetkin Prize, given to the best international building outside the EU. This year’s prize has a star-studded shortlist of five magnificent new buildings from around the world. The Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi by Foster + Partners is a futuristic university campus which operates in the heat of the desert by merging traditional building wisdom with the latest technology; Guangzhou Opera House, China by Zaha Hadid Architects reinvents the traditional opera theatre with its dramatically curving contours; The Met in Bangkok by WOHA is a residential skyscraper incorporating outdoor spaces, balconies and gardens; both Boston Museum of Fine Arts, USA by Foster + Partners and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts by Rick Mather Architects are contemporary galleries built to complement the original museum architecture. The winner of the R ... More |
Group Exhibition of Artists Explores the Influence and Effects of Control Mechanisms on the Human Body
Holton Rower, Aftertaste of the Breaking Into, 2011. Photo by: G.R. Christmas/The Pace Gallery.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Pace Gallery presents Soft Machines, a group exhibition of artists exploring the influence and effects of control mechanisms on the human body. The exhibition features works by Stuart Brisley, Kathryn Garcia, Anthony Keith Giannini, Kate Gilmore, Tim Hawkinson, Liz Magic Laser and Anna Ostoya, Lovett/Codagnone, Adam Pendleton, Paul Pfeiffer, Ma Qiusha, Holton Rower, Sterling Ruby, and Kiki Smith. Soft Machines will be on view at 545 West 22nd Street through August 26, 2011. Through paintings, installations, sculptures, multimedia works, and performances, this exhibition examines the effects of society's coping devices and their influence on psychological and physical states. The title of the exhibition alludes to William S. Burroughs' subversive novel, The Soft Machine (1961), populated by control and the controlled where narcotics, alcohol, sex, power, money, religion, ideology and language expose the f ... More | | Philadelphia Museum Acquires Major Works by Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, and Cassatt
Path on the Island of Saint Martin, Vétheuil, 1881, by Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Oil on canvas, 29 x 23 1/2 inches (73.7 x 59.7 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of John C. Haas and Chara C. Haas, 2011-58-2
PHILADELPHIA, PA.- The Philadelphia Museum of Art has acquired three important French Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Alfred Sisley, and a pastel by Mary Cassatt, the Pennsylvania native and American expatriate who became famously associated with Paris during the late 19th century. All of the works are gifts from Chara C. and the late John Haas, longtime supporters of the Museum. They include Path on the Island of Saint Martin, Vétheuil (1881) by Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926); Apple Tree in the Meadow, Éragny (1893) by Camille Pissaro (French, 1830-1903); Mooring Lines, the Effect of Snow at Saint Cloud (1879) by Alfred Sisley (French, 1839-1899); and Madame Bérard’s Baby in a Striped Armchair (1880-81) by Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926). The Monet and the Pissarro ... More | | Art Gallery of Ontario to Present Major Pablo Picasso Survey Exhibition in 2012
Pablo Picasso, Autoportrait (Self-Portrait), 1906. Oil on canvas, 65 x 54 cm. Pablo Picasso gift-in-lieu, 1979, MP8. Musée National Picasso, Paris. © Succession Picasso, 2011. © RMN / René-Gabriel Ojéda.
TORONTO.- In 2012, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) will present a major survey of masterworks by the most inventive and influential artist of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso. Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris features more than 150 highlights from the Musée’s unparalleled collection, including paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings. The exhibition will be on view at the AGO for just 17 weeks, from April 28 through August 26, 2012. The collection of the Musée National Picasso, Paris comprises more than 5,000 works that Picasso kept for himself and his family over the course of his career, ranging from informal sketchbooks to iconic masterpieces. Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris features is touring the world while the Musée undergoes a multi-year renovation, scheduled for ... More |
Connecticut Auction House, Alexander Autographs, Says It Sold Josef Mengele Journals
File photo of the ill-famed doctor of Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp, Dr. Josef Mengele. EPA/GYULA CZIMBAL.
By: John Christofferson, Associated Press
NEW HAVEN (AP).- A Connecticut auction house says it has sold the journals written by Nazi death camp doctor Josef Mengele. The sale is drawing criticism from a leader of Holocaust survivors who says the business was profiting off the sale of one of the worst mass murderers in history. Alexander Autographs, of Stamford, sold the journals Thursday for nearly $300,000, said Bill Panagopulos, the company's president. Alexander officials said the Jewish buyer wants to remain anonymous and is building a private collection for a museum. "I am outraged that Mr. Panagopulos and his outfit have profiteered off a sale of materials by one of history's greatest mass murderers designed to enrich his heirs," said Menachem Rosensaft, vice president of the American Gathering of Jewish ... More | | 1952 Chrysler D'Elegance Leads Sensational Concepts at RM Auctions' Sale in Monterey
1952 Chrysler D'Elegance.
BLENHEIM, ON.- A design masterpiece by Virgil Exner and bodied by Ghia, this stunning 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance leads a host of sensational concept cars poised to cross RM’s Monterey auction podium next month, August 19 – 20 in California. Hemi-powered on a shortened New Yorker chassis, this stunning concept debuted at the 1952 Paris Motor Show; its display was so well-received that Ghia built an additional 25 examples. Today resplendent in its red metallic paint with a black and cream leather interior, it is expected to achieve approximately $1,000,000 at RM’s Monterey sale next month. Among an exciting list of other unique concepts to be featured at RM Monterey: a striking, superbly-restored 1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt Concept Car known as ‘the Copper Car’ in reference to its copper retractable roof and lower body trim (Est. $900,000 - $1,200,000); and the record-breaking 1953 Dodge Firearrow I ... More | | Tel Aviv Museum of Art Presents Retrospective Exhibition Yakov Agor: A Photographer
Prime Minister Golda Mayer. Photo: Yakov Agor, Courtesy Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
TEL AVIV.- Yakov Agor (Goldfarb) was born in Rovno, Ukraine in 1911. He took his first pictures at the age of 8, and at 19 began studying painting at the Berlin School of Art, returning to his hometown, Danzig, in 1933, following the Nazi rise to power. During World War II he designed sets for the Soviet film industry, and even participated in the war as an officer in the Polish army. In 1954 he began working as a photojournalist and a photographer of avant-garde theaters, among them Tadeusz Kantor's Polish theater company. At the end of 1958, the 47 year old Agor immigrated to Israel with his wife, dancer Helena Wolaniski, and their son, Alexander. That year an exhibition of his photographs was staged at Beit Sokolov (Journalists' House), Tel Aviv, which drew favorable responses. In 1960 he became a photographer for HaOlam HaZeh, and ... More |
| More News |
 Two New Exhibitions Open at the Gibbes Museum of ArtCHARLESTON, SC.- The Gibbes Museum of Art presents two new exhibitions starting today July 22 through October 16, 2011. The Creative Spirit: Vernacular Art from the Gadsden Arts Center Permanent Collection, organized by the Gadsden Arts Center in Quincy, Florida, will be on view in the Main Gallery. The Creative Spirit features paintings, drawings, and sculpture by the foremost self-taught artists of the American South. In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre–Civil War New Orleans is co-organized by Worcester Art Museum and The Historic New Orleans Collection. The exhibition, on view in the Gibbes’ Rotunda Galleries, is the first retrospective of the brief but important —career of portraitist Julien Hudson, one of the earliest-documented free artists of color working in the 19th century. “The complimentary nature of these two exhibitions underscores our desire to present new and inter ... More Sangha: An Installation by Kathryn Walker Opens at the Albright-Knox Art GalleryBUFFALO, NY.- A stunning new installation by the artist Kathryn Walker has opened in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s Gallery for Small Sculpture. SANGHA is composed of more than one thousand miniature terracotta pots, each carefully painted and collaged by the artist. Finished in an array of patinas and textures, each work in the installation contains a fragment of a Tibetan prayer flag embedded in the surface. The installation evokes concepts of refuge, consciousness, and community—ideas at the core of human survival and civilization. Small earthenware pots are as old as civilization itself. The invention of clay pottery allowed for the preservation of essentials, enabling early communities to survive and flourish. For this installation, the artist used unglazed earthen pots from Mexico, each one individual in shape. The addition of a Tibetan prayer flag fragment to each pot is a gesture that evokes the long ... More Archivists Check Collections in Wake of Md. Theft By: Sarah Brumfield, Associated Press
BALTIMORE, MD (AP).- Archivists are combing their collections to make sure they're not missing artifacts after a presidential historian was charged this month with stealing millions of dollars in documents from a historical society in Baltimore. Already, the accused author's name has turned up again in the investigation of a George Washington letter that went missing in Philadelphia. Before the accusations, Barry Landau had helped plan special events for several presidents and drew upon his collection of souvenirs to write a coffee-table book about meals in the White House. He has visited archives in several cities to do research on the presidents. The theft charges against him and a companion have served as a wakeup call for the institutions to review their vulnerabilities. They often have limited money ... More Arkansas Natural Sandstone Bridge Sells at AuctionBy: Suzi Parker
LITTLE ROCK (REUTERS).- It's not every day that a 3-million-year-old natural sandstone bridge hits the auction block. But on Friday morning about 20 people gathered at the base of the 120-foot-long bridge for the sale of a legendary Ozark tourist stop between Little Rock, Arkansas, and Branson, Missouri. The first bid, from an unidentified woman in the crowd, was for $100,000. Less than 15 minutes later, it was Jack Smith, an elderly Navy veteran from Conway, Arkansas, who bought the bridge, gift shop, log cabin museum, moonshine still, and 101 acres of forest for $207,900. The attraction, about 65 miles north of Little Rock, has been called a natural wonder because of its arching rock formation that was used as a wagon bridge by pioneers. For years, and even today, barn roofs along Highway 65 are painted with advertisements luring tourists down a winding road into Little Johnnie Cavern to see the "world wonder where nature is still the boss." A covered wagon gr ... More1888 Edison Recording may Be First Talking Doll Try By Josh Lederman, Associated Press
TRENTON, NJ (AP).- Scientists using advanced imaging technology have recovered a 123-year-old recording made by Thomas Edison that is believed to be the world's first attempt at a talking doll and may mark the dawn of the American recording industry. In the sound recording, a woman can be heard reciting a verse of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Historians believe Edison hired the woman to make the recording less than two years before he unsuccessfully put the first talking doll on the market. "Based on the date of fall 1888, it is the oldest American-made recording of a woman's voice that we can listen to today," said Patrick Feaster, a historian at Indiana University in Bloomington. Feaster pored over historical documents and 19th-century newspaper reports to piece together the story behind the recording. Edison hoped to mass-produce the toys, but the era's rudimentary technology meant tha ... More High Museum of Art Appoints Louise Sams New Board Chairwoman ATLANTA, GA.- The High Museum of Art recently appointed Louise Sams the new chairwoman of its board of directors. Sams has served on the High’s board for eight years and succeeds board chairman James L. Henderson, III, who has served in this capacity since 2007. Sams is currently the president of Turner Broadcasting System International (TBS, Inc.). She also serves as executive vice president and general counsel for TBS, Inc. In these positions she oversees the company’s worldwide legal matters, including protection of the company’s intellectual property, and litigation and employment matters. Sams directs a staff of approximately 80 lawyers located in Atlanta, Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong and Sydney. She is also responsible for all production, distribution and ad sales relating to Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies, Boomerang and all other entertainment networks and media services offered by Turner both ... More |
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment