Renate Reiss views one of the rediscovered murals by the German-born American artist Winold Reiss for the first time, at Bernard Goldberg’s gallery space in New York, April 20, 2023. The murals were part of a series of eight that originally hung in a Longchamps restaurant in the Empire State Building — they were long presumed lost or destroyed until the gallery director, Ken Sims, spotted them while browsing an online marketplace. (Karsten Moran/The New York Times)
by Eve M. Kahn
NEW YORK, NY.- Towering remnants of tropical decor from the young Empire State Building, which were believed to have vanished decades ago, will return to public view Friday in a TEFAF art fair booth at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan. Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts gallery will offer these works, two oval murals of damsels engulfed in rainbows of blossoms and foliage, which German-born artist Winold Reiss painted in 1938 for a Longchamps restaurant at the Empire State Building’s base. (It’s now a Starbucks.) “Oh, my Lord,” art and architectural historian C. Ford Peatross said last month when he first saw the murals, nearly 8 feet tall, at the Goldberg gallery. Peatross, who has been researching Reiss since the 1980s, had previously seen only photos and sketches of the Longchamps works, mostly in black and white. “It’s a major find,” the historian said. Renate Reiss, widow of ... More
Misha Japanwala’s moldings on the coast of Karachi, Pakistan. (Photos: Aleena Naqvi)
by Aamina Inayat Khan
NEW YORK, NY.- Misha Japanwala looked around her studio in the week leading up to her gallery show and wondered whether there were “too many nipples.” She was talking, of course, about the nipples she plaster cast from the bodies of 70 anonymized Pakistani people. They are part of Japanwala’s new collection, “Beghairati Ki Nishaani: Traces of Shamelessness,” showing at Hannah Traore Gallery in New York through July 30. Japanwala, a visual artist who lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, spent several months last year in Karachi, Pakistan, where she grew up, making body castings of local women and LGBTQ people. Her work aims to be a historical record of a population governed by the laws of shame. In a country where violence against women, including “honor killings,” is rampant, bucking social conventions a ... More
MILAN.-Christie’s 20th / 21st Century: Milan Online Sale, live for bidding from 17 to 31 May 2023, will present an exquisite selection of works from esteemed Italian and international collections. Pioneering artists who shaped the dynamic artistic movements of the 20th century will be offered alongside a curated selection of emerging names that currently resonate with collectors globally. The online format has more than doubled the number of countries from which registered bidders participate, highlighting the success of Christie’s evolving auction channels over the last five years. The unique 20/21 sale platforms at Christie’s offer collectors an unrivalled dialogue between Italy and the rest of the world, highlighted this spring by Piero Manzoni, Marino Marini, Sam Francis, Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri, Alighiero Boetti, Christo and Hermann Nitsch. The full pre-sale exhibition will take place against the dramatic backdrop ... More
Kenny Scharf (b. 1958). Astro Cumulo Uber Express, 2005. Spray paint, acrylic, enamel, and found objects on fully customized 1960 Cadillac Coupe De Ville, 390 cubic in. V-8 engine with automatic transmission. Car is approximately 225 in. long x 80 in. wide x 54.1 in. Estimate: $400,000 - $600,000.
DALLAS, TX.- The contemporary art world is shaped not only by the artists whose names we commit to memory — the art stars like Warhol or Basquiat or Richter — but also by quiet heroes who navigate that world with a unique and brilliant consistency. Not so long ago the journalist Malcolm Gladwell coined the term "connector" to describe a trendsetting person who has a rich network of friends and acquaintances and a knack for bringing people together, for linking us up with the world. The energetic and wonderfully good-natured artist Kenny Scharf, who got his start in New York City in the late 1970s and hit his first real stride in the ‘80s while working alongside Keith Haring (his roommate), Basquiat and all the rest, is a true connector. Directly and indirectly ... More
NEW YORK, NY.-Christie’s announced the second installment of the Ann & Gordon Getty Collection. Following the October 2022 landmark sales, this June, Christie’s will present the contents of the Gettys’ historic turn of the century Berkeley property: Temple of Wings. The Collection will be sold over one live auction in New York – taking place on June 14, and two online sales ending on June 15. Proceeds will benefit selected arts and science organizations designed by Ann and Gordon Getty. Temple of Wings, located on the Berkeley hillside, was built in a Greco-Roman style as the house and dance studio of Florence Treadwell Boynton. It was acquired by the Gettys in 1994, and under Ann Getty’s stewardship, they furnished the home with furniture and decorative arts honoring the rich eclecticism of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The collection includes furniture from the most significant members of the Gothic Revival and Art ... More
Known for her many guidebooks, she helped determine what was trash and what was treasure on the BBC series that inspired the American show.
by Penelope Green
NEW YORK, NY.- Judith Miller, the author of popular antiques price guides and a member of the team of appraisers who determined what was trash and what was treasure on “Antiques Roadshow,” the beloved long-running BBC program that inspired the American series of the same name, died April 8 in North London. She was 71. Her husband, John Wainwright, confirmed the death, in a hospital. He did not specify the cause, saying only that she died after a short illness. Miller, known to the British news media as the queen of collectibles, was often buttonholed on the street by Britons eager to share their back stories of Great-Aunt So-and-So’s bibelots, and at antiques fairs, where many attendees clutched fresh copies of “Miller’s Antiques Handbook & Price Guide” or “Miller’s Collectibles Handbook,” the twin bibles of the antiques and collecting ... More
Max Beckmann, 1884–1950, Quappi in Blue in a Boat, 1926/50. Gouache and oil on paper on canvas | 88.5 × 58 cm. Würth Collection. Photo: Volker Naumann, Schönaich.
VIENNA.- Around 200 works by 75 artists illustrate the (amazing) variety of Modernist and contemporary art production in the most comprehensive exhibition of the Würth Collection to date in Austria. The Würth Collection is among the largest private collections in Europe and one of the most eminent art collections worldwide. The collector Prof. Reinhold Würth gave the Leopold Museum’s Director Hans-Peter Wipplinger carte blanche to choose around 200 masterpieces from the collection’s approximately 19,000 works for the exhibition AMAZING. The Würth Collection at the Leopold Museum. The presentation invites visitors to embark on a unique journey through more than 100 years of art history. One emphasis within the presentation of the collection is on Classical Modernism, showcasing highlight works by Edvard Munch, Pablo ... More
NEW YORK, NY.-Christie’s announced the top lot of the 20th Century Evening Sale on May 11, 2023 during the Spring Marquee Week of sales will be Pablo Picasso’s Nature morte à la fenêtre (estimate on request; in the region of $40,000,000). This important, large-scale 1932 portrait of the artist’s golden muse Marie-Thérèse Walter dates from one of the most celebrated moments within Picasso’s entire career. This May will be the first time in history that the work has come to auction. Vanessa Fusco, Christie’s Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, and Co-Head of 20th Century Evening Sale, remarks, “Marie-Thérèse’s presence in Picasso’s life reinvigorated every area of his work, her statuesque form, radiant beauty, and carefree sensibility inspiring the artist to create works that stand among the finest of his entire career. ... More
LONDON.-Vardaxoglou is currently presenting an exhibition of new works on paper by Lewis Brander (b. 1995) that will run until May 26th, 2023. This is the artist’s first exhibition with the gallery dedicated to his works on paper. An observer of the shifts in natural light in both Northern and Southern Europe, the colour of the sky has become a constant reference in Brander’s paintings since returning to London from Greece three years ago. Upon moving to Athens in 2018, the artist became exposed to a new landscape and quality of light. Now working from the top-floor of a disused factory in East London, his studio’s views of the sky have allowed him to sustain this study of light over extended periods. On an intimate scale, the paintings depict sunsets, the summit of hills and charcoal delineations of a tree as fragments of much larger scenes. Varying only ... More
LONDON.- The Royal Institute of British Architects announced that Pakistan’s first female architect, Professor Yasmeen Lari, will receive the 2023 Royal Gold Medal for architecture. This award - the first to be personally approved by His Majesty The King - acknowledges Yasmeen Lari’s work championing zero-carbon self-build concepts for displaced populations. One of the world's highest accolades for architecture, the Royal Gold Medal is personally approved by the monarch and awarded to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence on the advancement of architecture. Presented since 1848, past Royal Gold Medallists include Balkrishna Doshi (2022), Sir David Adjaye OBE (2021), Dame Zaha Hadid (2016), Frank Gehry (2000), Lord Norman Foster (1983), Frank Lloyd Wright (1941) and Sir George Gilbert Scott (1859). ... More
Fine Franz Hofstötter for Loetz Phaenomen (Gre 2/314) Glass Vase, circa 1902. Marks: Loetz Austria, 6-3/4 x 6-1/4 inches (17.1 x 15.9 cm). Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000.
DALLAS, TX.- Art Glass aficionados know a Tiffany Studios lamp on sight and can clock a Lalique vase from across a room. Daum and Gallé have made their indelible mark on the form, too. But there's a sleeper studio in the mix that insiders also know and love for its virtuosic command of the medium: The glassworks studio Loetz, founded in 1836 in Southern Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) — a region with a rich centuries-long tradition of glassmaking — is a favorite of curators and collectors. And on May 25, in its Pursuit of Beauty: Art Nouveau, Art Deco & Art Glass Signature® Auction, Heritage presents an important private collection of 41 Loetz works that demonstrate the firm's tremendous range of production and the works' timeless appeal. The auction also marks Heritage's continuing successful expansion of the category with highlights spanning a ... More
2022 Pelé & Ronaldo Signed Brazil National Team Jersey from The Pelé Collection. Update: This item includes video of Pelé signing it and is also offered with a 1 of 1 NFT
DALLAS, TX.- On June 15, 1958, 17-year-old Edson Arantes do Nascimento made his debut as a member of the Brazilian national football team. At the time, it was just another match — the final contest of the 1958 FIFA World Cup group stage. In time, history would record the moment as a milestone, a cataclysmic shift in the sport. Just two weeks later, the young forward led Brazil to its first World Cup title with a two-goal performance against host country Sweden in the Finals. But Gustav VI Adolf, the king of Sweden who visited the pitch to shake the young man's hand before the match, already knew what the world was about to discover: The kid known as Pelé was well on his way to becoming soccer's greatest star. Sixty-five years later, The Pelé Collection, a centerpiece making its debut in Heritage's May 11-13 Spring Sports Catalog Auction, is a fitting tribute to the legend. And ... More
Trained as an architect, Bonevardi’s formal investigations are multifaceted, working in painting, drawing, sculpture, and site-specific installations.
NEW CANAAN, CONN.-Heather Gaudio Fine Art is presenting Gustavo Bonevardi: A Structured Survey, his first exhibition at the gallery. The show surveys the artist’s last fifteen years of paintings, works on paper and sculpture and will be on view May 6th-June 10th, 2023. The public is invited to attend an opening reception on Saturday May 13th, 4-6pm. Trained as an architect, Bonevardi’s formal investigations are multifaceted, working in painting, drawing, sculpture, and site-specific installations. Although his artistic lineage is linked to the legacy of the Escuela del Sur, (or School of the South, founded by constructivist modernist Joaquín Torres García), Bonevardi’s visual language is decidedly his own. Working with paper, stone, clay, wood, and other materials, Bonevardi’s process is one of discovery. He embraces the exploration of a complex world, vacillating his artistic impulses between two and three dimensions ... More
Quote In England, pop art and fine art stand resolutely back to back. Colin MacInnes
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4 books that offer a bouquet of design inspiration NEW YORK, NY.- Interior design, an art form vulnerable to owners’ changing tastes and the frailties of fabrics and wallpapers, is often appreciated only fleetingly, or in retrospect. Several recent books capture this evanescence in the ghosts of an abandoned crafts community, the inspirations of a 20th-century maverick decorator, the rocking decks of floating homes and the ever-evolving ambience of plant-filled rooms. Viking ship prows and Scandinavian wildlife were among the favorite motifs of a short-lived artisans’ collaborative called Elverhoj, founded in 1912 on the Hudson River’s western shores just north of Newburgh, New York. “Elverhoj: The Arts and Crafts Colony at Milton-on-Hudson” (Black Dome Press, $35, 218 pages), by scholars William B. Rhoads and Leslie Melvin, is the first in-depth study of this ambitious, long-forgotten venture. ... More
Menahem Pressler, pianist who co-founded the Beaux Arts Trio, dies at 99 NEW YORK, NY.- Menahem Pressler, a celebrated pianist who fled Nazi Germany in 1939 and, after establishing himself in postwar America, co-founded the Beaux Arts Trio, which became the world’s reigning piano-violin-cello ensemble and dazzled audiences for a half-century, died Saturday in London. He was 99. His death was announced by the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where he had been on the faculty since 1955. At 14, Pressler hid on Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, as Nazi thugs smashed his father’s shop. When World War II began in Europe, his Jewish family landed in Haifa, in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine. Traumatized, he nearly died at 16, but he found the will to live in a haunting Beethoven sonata. In 1946, he won an international piano competition in San Francisco. A year ... More
'Documenting Israel: Visions of 75 Years' opens at the Museum of Tolerance, Jerusalem ZURICH.- Documenting Israel: Visions of 75 Years is the first exhibition to be held at the new Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem. Curated by Anna-Patricia Kahn, the works cover the State’s entire history as well as the years leading up to its founding. Made by 12 artists, 120 photographs and one video point to the highly subjective nature of the perspectives surrounding Israel while showcasing the diversity and complexity of the State and its inhabitants. The exhibition offers layered viewpoints on Israel’s development and the growth of its communities. The exhibition opened 28 April and features work by Micha Bar-Am, Robert Capa, Thomas Dworzak, Bruce Gilden, Erich Hartmann, Nanna Heitmann, Sigalit Landau, Helmar Lerski, Inge Morath, Benyamin Reich, David Seymour and Patrick Zachmann. ... More
'Like he was going to live forever': Making Jerome Robbins' last ballet NEW YORK, NY.- Jerome Robbins wasn’t feeling well in winter 1995. He had created “West Side Story Suite” — a condensed adaptation of his 1957 hit Broadway musical — for New York City Ballet earlier that year and started work on a new pas de deux with two principal dancers, Lourdes Lopez and Nikolaj Hübbe. By December, it was clear that he needed heart surgery. In the next months, he began to show symptoms that suggested Parkinson’s disease and had a bad fall that affected his balance. Nonetheless, he continued to work with City Ballet on a new dance over the next two years. “I can’t show them what I want them to do so they all move around with stiff-legged movements imitating me and not my intentions,” he wrote to a friend, choreographer Andy de Groat. “It’s such very hard work for me now.” In 1997 — on Jan. 22, the birthday of George ... More
Mo Willems finds yet another way to entertain kids: Opera WASHINGTON, DC.- Do you know the words to the Queen of the Night’s stratospheric showcase from “The Magic Flute”? Maybe the Duke’s famous tune from “Rigoletto”? Carmen’s Habanera? No, not those words. The other ones: the words, at least, as they are now known to my 6-year-old daughter and the hundreds of children who took grown-ups like me to the Kennedy Center here recently for the premiere of “The Ice Cream Truck Is Broken! & Other Emotional Arias,” an experiment, including a short new work by composer Carlos Simon, in what it might mean to draw a very young and impossibly demanding audience into a life in opera. See, you might think that Carmen is relating her views on love, but no. Listen closely, and you’ll find that the singer should have shared her cotton candy with her friends, and absolutely will … tomorrow. ... More
Full line-up announced: Wandsworth Arts Fringe 2023 LONDON.-Wandsworth Arts Fringe (WAF) is back with a jam-packed, belly-laughing, awe-inspiring new line-up. Now in our 14th year, WAF has become known for daring artists and audiences alike to take a walk on the wild side and test something new. Discover an intimate festival of brand-new theatre at The Arches underneath Putney Bridge, sparkling nights of comedy and cabaret at The Bedford (and beyond!) and let us take you to church for a feast of music, dance, storytelling, spoken word and more. Fringe-goers can hear an opera in Sanskrit or explore the secret treasure trove of art hidden behind the front door of 575 Wandsworth Road. Try a workshop in Peruvian dance, or catch a pop-up street performance from Autin Dance Theatre and their Sea Giant puppet, Eko. ... More
Galleria Continua announces the representation of Eva Jospin SAN GIMIGNANO.- Eva Jospin’s first exhibition at Galleria Continua will be a solo show in the space in San Gimignano, opening 27 May. Eva Jospin (1975, Paris), who graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, has been composing forest and architectural landscapes for the past fifteen years, which she develops in various media. Winner of the Prix de l'Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2015 and resident at the Villa Medici in Rome in 2017, she has had numerous exhibitions of international importance, notably at the Palais de Tokyo (Inside, 2014) and at the Palazzo Dei Diamanti in Ferrara in 2018, at the Museum Pfalzgalerie in Kaiserslautern in 2019, at the Hayward Gallery in 2020, at the Het Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch (Paper Tales, 2021) and more recently at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris (Galleria, 2021). ... More
Laura Pels, devoted supporter of nonprofit theater, dies at 92 NEW YORK, NY.- Laura Pels, a leading benefactor of nonprofit theater through the Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, which has helped a multitude of companies stage plays in New York City and beyond, died Wednesday at a hospital near her home in Manhattan. She was 92. The cause was complications of COVID-19, said her daughter Juliette J. Meeus. Pels took control of the foundation that now bears her name in a divorce settlement with media executive Donald A. Pels. “I decided that I was going to do exactly what I wanted with it: Help the theater,” she told Playbill in 1995. She did just that, diligently guiding the foundation from the 1990s until recently. “She was incredibly involved and ‘hands on,’” Hal Witt, the foundation’s former executive director and a member of the board, wrote in an email, adding that Pels ... More
Christie's to offer Maysha Mohamedi's 'Too Young to Go Steady' to benefit land conservation NEW YORK, NY.- On May 12, 2023, Christie’s New York Post-War and Contemporary Day Sale will offer Maysha Mohamedi’s Too Young to Go Steady to benefit land conservation with Art into Acres. The proceeds of the work, which was donated by the artist, will support the permanent conservation of land in the United States through community-led efforts. The painting is raising funds that are being matched at 200% from private foundations and will assist in biodiversity conservation and species migration corridors, supporting formal protection status at a large-scale. Conserving intact ecosystems and watersheds is one of the leading ways to maintain the planet’s ability to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide and to mitigate climate change. Christie’s has an on-going partnership with Art into Acres, an artist-founded initiative that supports ... More
Framed Apollo 11 insignia touches down in Heritage's Space Exploration Auction May 19-20 DALLAS, TX.- Much of the world held its collective breath July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people ever to walk on the moon. When he first stepped on the lunar surface, Armstrong uttered the phrase that now is the most famous in the history of space exploration: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." The first person to confirm the successful landing of the Eagle was Charlie Duke, who served as CAPCOM for the groundbreaking Apollo 11 mission, acting as communications liaison between NASA and the astronauts above. An integral member of the mission that launched — literally — mankind's exploration of the moon, Duke is now sharing items from his career when they are offered in Heritage Auctions' Space Exploration Signature® Auction May 19-20. Any questions about Duke's ... More
Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare presents 'David Lamelas: I Have to Think About It' BOLZANO.- From 7 May 2023 to 24 February 2024 the Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare presents I Have to Think About It, the first Italian retrospective exhibition devoted to Argentinean artist David Lamelas. Author of one of the most fascinating conceptual researches dating back to the end of the 1960s, Lamelas’ practice ranges from installation to sculpture, drawing, photography, film, video, sound and textual works that address the defining contexts and conditions of our perceptions and cognitions. His is an art, more often than not, made of almost nothing. The exhibition, curated by Andrea Viliani with Eva Brioschi, develops in space across all floors of the Fondazione, and branches outdoors and back into the exhibition rooms. This facilitates a dialogue between Lamelas’ works and those of the artists in the collection. In time, the show reshapes ... More
On a day like today, Finnish illustrator Tom of Finland was born
April 08, 1920. Touko Valio Laaksonen (8 May 1920 - 7 November 1991), best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist known for his stylized highly masculinized homoerotic fetish art, and for his influence on late twentieth century gay culture. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W. Slade. In this image: Tom of Finland, Untitled, c.1978. Graphite on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm; 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 ins. Copyright Tom of Finland Foundation.
