In an undated image provided by Sotheby’s, a recently surfaced 1846 daguerreotype of Dolley Madison, taken by the photographer John Plumbe Jr., being sold by Sotheby’s. Madison is credited with inventing the role of first lady. (Sotheby's via The New York Times)
NEW YORK, NY.- Sometime around May 1846, Dolley Madison made her way from her home near the White House to the studio of an enterprising photographer who had begun a quixotic effort to create a daily publication featuring portraits of “interesting public characters.” The nearly 80-year-old former first lady and reigning grande dame of the capital sat for a portrait draped in a crocheted shawl, her curls peeking out from under her signature turban. But the photographer’s enterprise soon went bust, and the images captured that day disappeared into the slipstream of history. Now, one of the daguerreotypes made that day is set to be auctioned by Sotheby’s, which is billing it as the earliest known photograph of a first lady. ... More
DAVENPORT, IA.-The Figge Art Museum announced the establishment of The Linda and J. Randolph Lewis Wing, made possible by the extraordinary generosity of Dr. Randy and Linda Lewis of Davenport, Iowa. The Lewises’ remarkable gift of forty-four works of modern and contemporary American art valued at $14 million by Christie’s, New York marks a momentous addition to the Figge’s collection. For fifty years, the Lewises ... More
The artist Iza Tarasewicz, second from right, walks by her sculpture “Revelation of Powers” (2022) on display in Basel Social Club, an alternative art fair in Basel, Switzerland, June 9, 2024. (Clara Tuma/The New York Times)
BASEL.- On Sunday morning, Roman Mathis, a farmer on the outskirts of the bucolic Swiss city of Basel, noted with concern that one of his cows was standing in a small wading pool filled with beans that had recently been installed next to his barn. It wasn’t wholly ... More
Louis XIV Style Boulle Jewelry Box, 19th century.
NEW YORK, NY.-Lark Mason Associates heads into summer with two exceptional sales. The first, Exquisite Boxes, Furniture and Works of Art will open for bidding on June 12 and run through June 27 on igavelauctions.com. With more than 360 lots, the standouts include a monumental collection from a professional conservator of over 200 Napoleon III-era and earlier exotic inlay and gilt bronze mounted jewelry and glove boxes. ... More
NEW YORK, NY.- Luxury Week continues at Christie’s with the Magnificent Jewels auction on Tuesday. The live sale took place at Christie’s Rockefeller Center, in the heart of Manhattan with lively bidding on the phones, in the room, and online. The sale ... More
Tom Anholt in his studio, Photo: Sebastian Hahne.
LOS ANGELES, CA.-BLUM announced the representation of Berlin-based artist Tom Anholt, in collaboration with Josh Lilley, London. Anholt explores the human condition through paintings composed of florid allegory, rich narratives, and otherworldly landscapes that mine the imagination as well as the visual lexicons of Hellenic antiquity, ... More
Exhibition view Kosmos Klee. The Collection, Zentrum Paul Klee, 2024, photo: Christine Strub.
BERN.- The dynamic permanent exhibition devoted to Paul Klee invites visitors to immerse themselves in the life and work of this important modern artist. With some 70 changing works from the collection, Kosmos Klee offers a chronological survey of Klee’s artistic career. Biographical and archival ... More
Installation view: Rheim Alkadhi: Templates for Liberation, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 2024. Photo: Rob Harris, ICA.
LONDON.- Today, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London opened the UK’s first exhibition of artist Rheim Alkadhi. Addressing ongoing consequences of war and colonialism exemplified in present-day Iraq and the region at large, Templates for Liberation presents a sculptural installation, ... More
US Marine Corps M2-A1 flamethrower, variant of, and successor to, the model used extensively in the Pacific Theater in WWII. Estimate: $20,000-$30,000.
WILLOUGHBY, OHIO.- American military history, from the Civil War through Vietnam, will be revisited and honored on June 29 at Milestone’s Premier Military Auction, with all forms of remote bidding available in addition to in-person bidding at the gallery. Arguably the Ohio company’s finest offering ... More
Leading the line at £425,201 was Still Life with Fruit and Flowers by Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935).
EDINBURGH.- Stellar works by the Scottish Colourists met a rousing reception at Lyon & Turnbull’s Scottish Paintings & Sculpture sale featuring John Duncan Fergusson at 150 on the evening of 06 June. Confirming the continued buoyancy at the top end of the Scottish art market – and Lyon & Turnbull’s position as international ... More
SYDNEY.- Respected Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) community Elder Naomi Kantjuriny has won the Sir John Sulman Prize 2024 and $40,000 for her work Minyma mamu tjuta, which depicts mamu, good and bad spirits that come in different forms and with varying powers. A first-time Sulman finalist, Kantjuriny is the third Indigenous Australian ... More
Raquel Espasande, one of several employees at the worker-owned Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore in New York, May 7, 2024. (Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times)
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.- On a recent rainy Saturday morning, eight organizers from All Power Books, a volunteer-run bookstore cooperative, gathered at the Church of Christ to distribute the leftover produce they had procured from a food bank. The day’s haul was unusually large: Crates of mini potatoes, frozen meat, green beans, apples ... More
PARIS.-Mennour announced the exclusive representation of Sidival Fila. Born in Paraná, Brazil, in 1962, Sidival Fila lives and works in Rome, at the Convent of the Franciscan friars of San Bonaventura al Palatino. He roots his artistic research on disused materials, mostly fabrics, including linen, cotton, silk, hemp, and brocade with the idea to free the object from its “material” condition. His aesthetic journey is a constant quest for the contact ... More
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Recently merged Freeman's │ Hndman sees a 52% increase in registered bidders CHICAGO, IL.-Freeman’s | Hindman’s inaugural season of fine art auctions as a newly merged firm achieved remarkable success with a 52% increase in registered bidders compared to the previous six-month period. From three separate salerooms, the company hosted 17 fine art auctions that offered more than 2,200 lots and generated over $19.5 million in total sales for the collecting category. The sales also saw a 16% increase in the average lot price, underscoring the firm's dedication to providing high-quality offerings. These outstanding results demonstrate the powerful synergy the Freeman’s and Hindman merger has achieved in six short months. Later this month, the firm looks ahead to a multi-act sale series entitled Center Stage: The Laura Pels Collection slated for June 20, 21, and 25 featuring fine art, furniture, decorative ... More
In 'Dark Noon,' Hollywood Westerns get a South African reboot CHARLESTON, SC.- The saloon is there. So are the dusty cowboy hats, the freshly laid railroad tracks and the Native American headdresses. But while “Dark Noon” basks in these hallmarks of Hollywood Westerns, it examines them through new eyes, leaving no triumphalist cliche unquestioned. Virtually every scene in this collaboration between a Danish director and a South African theater company (at St. Ann’s Warehouse in New York City in previews before opening June 17) ends with at least one bullet-riddled corpse on the parched red earth of the set. Many of the dead are female or Indigenous. “It is a Western town,” Nhlanhla Mahlangu, the play’s choreographer and co-director, said of the archetypal tumbleweedy community that rises up over the course of the action, “but it is all the settlement towns of South Africa as well. We are also ... More
As University of the Arts closes, estate of late "Indiana Jones" artist alleges fraudulent copyright filings PHILADELPHIA, PA.- With the recent closure of Phildelphia’s University of the Arts, Howard Feinberg and Adam McDaniel are inquiring about the fate of a large collection of original artwork by the late illustrator, Richard Amsel. Mr. Amsel, one of the most popular illustrators of entertainment art in the 20th century, was known for his portraiture work of such luminaries as Barbra Streisand, Lily Tomlin, and Bette Midler, as well as numerous TV Guide covers, and iconic movie posters for Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Sting, The Dark Crystal, and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Mr. Amsel succumbed to AIDS complications in late 1985, at the age of 37. Mr. Feinberg represents the Richard Amsel estate through the late Gary Bralow, to whom Mr. Amsel appointed as his sole executor and beneficiary. Mr. Bralow died in April 1990. Mr. McDaniel is a filmmaker in California, who ... More
Traditional & contemporary Japanese prints go up for bid at Turner Auctions + Appraisals SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Turner Auctions + Appraisals will present Japanese Prints on Saturday, June 22, 2024. The sale features over 120 lots of traditional and contemporary Japanese woodblock prints, etchings, preparatory drawings, and pillar prints – mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries and from two California collections. Traditional artists include Kuniyoshi, Hokusai, Hiroshige, Kunichika, Yoshitoshi, Yoshida, Hasui, Yoshiiku, and Keith. Among the contemporary offerings are works from Hamanishi and Yoshimatsu, plus an extensive selection of etchings by Tanaka. Turner Auctions + Appraisals begins its online auction on Saturday, June 22, 2024, at 10:30 am PDT; sale items are available for preview and bidding now. The online auction will be featured live on multiple platforms: LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, Bidsquare, and ... More
Imara Limon named new head curator at Amsterdam Museum AMSTEERDAM.- Curator and art historian Imara Limon (Leiden, 1988) will become head curator and member of the management team at the Amsterdam Museum as of July 1st. Limon has been affiliated with the museum since 2017 and was announced the winner of the National Museum Talent Award that same year. She became known for projects such as the New Narratives programming, the biennial art manifestation Refresh Amsterdam, and the exhibition Manahahtáanung or New Amsterdam?, currently on view. Besides her work at the Amsterdam Museum, Limon is a supervisor at Centraal Museum Utrecht and has broad experience as an advisor to various cultural funds. She was also a board member of the Kunsten ’92 advocacy group and creative director of the Amsterdam 750 Foundation. “We are very pleased with Imara ... More
Mineo Mizuno commissioned for site-specific sculpture SAN MARINO, CALIF.-The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens announced today that it has commissioned California-based Japanese American artist Mineo Mizuno to create a site-specific sculpture titled Homage to Nature. The monumental work, measuring approximately 16' x 12' x 13', has been installed in an area known as the Stroll Garden, just to the north of the Munger Research Center. The piece, crafted from fallen timber gathered in the forests of the Sierra Nevada, is framed by views of the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance. Homage to Nature will remain on view for five years. “I am thrilled that we have commissioned Mineo Mizuno for this site-specific sculpture,” said Robert Hori, the associate director of cultural programs at The Huntington. “Homage to Nature will quietly invite visitors to reflect ... More
Group exhibition, Here & Now opens at JD Malat Gallery LONDON.-JD Malat Gallery’s group exhibition, Here & Now, brings together both represented artists and new artistic voices from outside of the gallery’s roster. Presenting a convergence of diverse practices and creative visions, Here & Now seeks to demonstrate the multifaceted approaches of contemporary artists working today, capturing a vivid picture of identity, the human experience, and the raw vulnerabilities of modern life. Here & Now strives to amplify the socially engaged nature of diverse artistic practices by bringing together recent work by gallery artists Emily Gillbanks, Sophie-Yen Bretez, Georg Oskar, Celine Ali, Ayanfe Olarinde, Yann Leto, Marcel Rusu, Ur Kasin, Ed Moses, Andy Moses, Santiago Parra, Luis Olaso, and Conrad Jon Godly. The exhibition also presents works for the first time by artists Horacio Quiroz, ... More
Masterpiece Onderdonk painting saved from thrift-store fate tops Heritage's June 29 Texas Art Auction DALLAS, TX.- The painting was loaded into a trailer along with other donations and was headed to Goodwill. Once there, it would probably sit for ages and eventually, someone would notice its charismatic beauty and snap it up for a few dollars. Bluebonnet paintings — a mainstay of American West artists for a century — are not hard to come by, but this one was different. Whoever had packed the truck had either not noticed or not understood the signature “Julian Onderdonk” on the lower front and back of the canvas. The woman on her way to a West Coast retirement, whose family had packed her things, called out for it. “It’s too pretty to surrender.” It had been a gift to her, sent to Illinois from an extended family member in Texas, to commemorate her birth in 1922; she had looked upon it all her life, and she wanted it on the wall of her ... More
The Tao of 'Smooth,' rock's enduring, inescapable earworm NEW YORK, NY.- “To really appreciate ‘Smooth,’ you have to embrace how cheesy ‘Smooth’ is,” Rob Thomas said. “It’s right in your face.” The singer’s voice dropped into a silky baritone, as if he were channeling an infomercial announcer, or a late-night radio DJ. “Man, it’s a hot one,” he crooned, dramatically reciting the song’s opening lyric. “Smooth” was a centerpiece of “Supernatural,” the 1999 comeback album by Santana and its leader, Carlos Santana. The Mexico-born guitarist’s band had been revered as an innovative force in music since its 1969 debut and had several rock radio standards in its repertoire, including “Evil Ways,” “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va.” But Santana hadn’t placed a single in the Top 40 since 1982, and with Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and Christina Aguilera dominating the charts, there didn’t seem to be much demand for a 51-year-ol ... More
At the Ojai Festival, a star pianist keeps the focus on young artists OJAI, CALIF.- Mitsuko Uchida sat at the piano with her back to the audience. It was an unusual look for a reigning pianist who can fill a concert hall, or sell a new album of 200-year-old sonatas, on the strength of just of her name and face. But over four evenings of performances at the Ojai Music Festival in California, that’s how Uchida played. It was especially strange, given that she was the festival’s music director, an annual post given to an artist to organize programming and the roster of performers. Throughout the festival’s outdoor campus, her name was on T-shirts and signs, not to mention Vogue-thick program books handed out at each concert. Then again, we’re talking about Ojai, where open-minded audiences take in music accompanied by nature and snack on freshly picked pixie tangerines. Uchida might have seemed like a headliner, but this festival is about sharing the wealth. ... More
How 'The Outsiders' staged a Broadway fight club NEW YORK, NY.- In a park, at night, as a train screams nearby, the teenagers punch, kick and grapple. They roll over and over, gravel sticking to their rain-soaked clothes, in a terrible embrace, beating one another bloody. “We didn’t want to romanticize it or sugarcoat it or make it easy,” director Danya Taymor said of this scene in the Broadway musical “The Outsiders.” “It felt really important that these moments of violence be terrifying, be brutal.” “The Outsiders,” nominated for 12 Tony Awards, is based on S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film adaptation. Set to a folk-rock score, it explores the rivalry between the preppy Socs and the blue-collar Greasers, gangs in 1960s Tulsa, Oklahoma. That enmity explodes in a climactic scene, the rumble, in which the teenagers battle for control of a park. Staging it — in ... More
Constable's 'Hay Wain': A Quiet but Radical British Icon | National Gallery
Flashback
On a day like today, Austrian painter Egon Schiele was born
June 12, 1890. Egon Schiele (12 June 1890 - 31 October 1918) was an Austrian painter. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, Schiele was a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and the many self-portraits the artist produced, including naked self-portraits. In this image: Egon Schiele, Häuser mit bunter Wäsche,“Vorstadt” II, 1914. Estimate: £22-30 million/ $36-50 million. Photo: Sotheby's.
