Cambridge Valley, by Anna Mary Robertson ‘Grandma” Moses (Estimate: $80,000-120,000).
NEW YORK, NY.- With over 400 lots of paintings, sculpture, furniture, silver, jewelry, rugs, Asian works of art and lighting–some of which belonged to a prominent Connecticut collector–Lark Mason Associates is presenting an eclectic online auction of fine and decorative arts which is now open for bidding on igavelauctions.com now through July 7th. “From a contemporary hand-blown glass vessel by Lino Tagliapietra (Estimate: $7,000-10,000) to Cambridge Valley, by Anna Mary Robertson ‘Grandma” Moses (Estimate: $80,000-120,000), or an 18th century Tibetan gilt bronze seated Bodhisattva (Estimate: $4,000-8,000), we are delighted to offer a wide swathe of fine and decorative works of art for collectors ... More
Karl Wirsum, Thumb Thwack, 1986. Acrylic on canvas (with painted wooden frame), 50.5 x 38.25 inches.
by Roberta Smith
NEW YORK(NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Karl Wirsum, whose avid, sometimes robotic figures in both two and three dimensions exemplified the group of disruptive artists known in the late 1960s as the Hairy Who, died on May 6 in Chicago. He was 81. His death was announced by Derek Eller, his New York gallery. His family said the cause was cardiac arrest. With titles like “Lana Turner With Her Own Eyebrows Before Schrafft’s” and “Some Underwear Over the Rainbow,” Wirsum’s art was suffused with a great deal of humor. But the man himself was quiet and reserved, with tastes on the Spartan side. Very health conscious, he had followed a macrobiotic diet since the 1970s and went running nearly every day until he was 75. His self-containment may have stemmed from the deaths of his parents when he was 9, in a car accident from which he escaped without injury. He developed an early sense ... More
LONDON.-Christie’s announces the sale of The Collection of Rita Espírito Santo and Three Private European Collections taking place online from 21 June – 12 July, as part of the marquee series of sales comprising Classic Week running from 18 June – 15 July. The Collection of Rita Espírito Santo and Three Private European Collections comprises 160 lots including European furniture, clocks and objets d’art, Old Master Paintings, Chinese and European Porcelain and silver. Complementing The Collection of Rita Espírito Santo is a selection of lots from the Roman Palazzo of the late Robert de Balkany. as well as property from a Maison Jansen interior on London’s prestigious Eaton Square in London, and a further group belonging to a descendant of a Russian princely family from an apartment on Wilton Crescent in Belgravia, central London. The collection of Rita Espírito Santo (1927-2020) was largely inherited ... More
Lacy Schutz, left, the Shaker Museum’s executive director, and Annabelle Selldorf, architect of the new Shaker Museum, in New York, June 15, 2021. Vincent Tullo/The New York Times.
by Patricia Leigh Brown
CHATHAM(NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In an earlier life, the moribund red brick Victorian building at the foot of Main Street in this thriving Columbia County village had been a sanitarium, a hotel and tavern, a furniture store and an auto dealership. These were the warmup acts for its latest incarnation: a permanent new home for the Shaker Museum, widely considered the country’s most significant collection of Shaker furniture, objects and archival material. The museum, set to open in 2023 and to include a new addition, is being designed by architect Annabelle Selldorf, whose current projects include the expansion of The Frick Collection, in New York City, and an addition for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego La Jolla. “Modern architects tend to like the clarity and simplicity of ... More
BRUSSELS.-Botanique in Brussels is presenting the major retrospective exhibition Home Game by the Belgian artist duo memymom. memymom is the mother-daughter duo of Lisa De Boeck and Marilène Coolens, who first became known for their intimate family archive of analogue photos in which role-playing and staged mother-daughter scenes are central. Over the years, these staged dream portraits have developed not only into a mature conversation about metamorphosis, personal identity and the mother-daughter relationship, but also into a plea for sensual analysis and tragic romance. This is the first time that the duo's home city of Brussels has been the location for a major retrospective of their work. Home Game not only shows an overview of earlier pieces, but also presents a lot of new and never-before-seen images. With more than 220 works dating from 1990 to the present, it is a broader and completely reimagined elaboration of the ... More
Dylan's revolutionary hit single, 'Like a Rolling Stone'.
BOSTON, MASS.- "Summertime, and the bidding is easy"—with over 400 items spanning the history of popular music, RR Auction's summer installment of our Marvels of Modern Music series is sure to be a hit. From the Beatles and Bob Dylan to Prince, Kurt Cobain, and Lady Gaga, icons of the past and present are represented in this sale. Among the many chart-topping items is a fully signed Meet the Beatles promo album. The album is signed and inscribed on the back cover to George Harrison's older sister Louise. Beatle's albums inscribed to one of their family members are virtually nonexistent and hugely desirable. Prince's stage-worn lace shirt from the Purple Rain Tour. The long-sleeve shirt from the blockbuster 1984-85 Purple Rain Tour, gorgeously constructed entirely of sheer lace with a vine-and-leaf pattern, featuring a high-neck collar, three layers of ruffles on the chest, pearloid buttons down the front placket, and ruffled faux-French cuff ... More
NEW YORK, NY.-Vito Schnabel Gallery is presenting Spencer Lewis: Susan Mary, the gallery’s first exhibition dedicated to the Los Angeles-based artist. On view in St. Moritz will be new large-scale paintings on raw jute canvases – loose, vibrant, intuitive abstractions that choreograph pictorial space and manifest the accumulation of Lewis’ process-driven gesture. With its title a dedication to the artist’s late mother, this solo exhibition will be Lewis’ first in Switzerland. On view from July 7 through September 26, 2021, Susan Mary will be complemented by Four New Paintings, a special summer presentation of new works by the artist in the intimate setting of the Vito Schnabel Gallery’s Clarkson Street space in New York, beginning June 22. Born in Hartford, CT in 1979, Spencer Lewis is recognized for his works on cardboard and jute, ... More
Dennis Kardon, New Day, 2020. Oil on linen, 102 × 81.5 cm / 40 × 32 inches.
LONDON.-MASSIMODECARLO is presenting Strange Waters, Dennis Kardon’s debut solo exhibition with the gallery and the New York based artist’s first in London. Dennis Kardon (b. 1950, Des Moines, Iowa) challenges painting’s potential by creating representational scenes that materialize from loose abstract brushstrokes. The artist treats the surface of his canvases as a field to which he assigns various properties like reflection and distortion, creating scenes in which a feeling of unexpected intimacy pervade. Strange Waters comprises a selection of artworks made during the last four years which are instilled with the artist’s nuanced response to current events and personal memories. The artist wanted the title of the exhibition to reflect surviving the upheaval of the past four years and Kardon was attracted to a quote by Frank Herbert, the author of the 1965 science-fiction novel Dune, who considers survival to be & ... More
Lynn Chadwick. Maquette Jubilee II. Estimate: £300,000-500,000. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- Of all the great British sculptors of the 20th century Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003) was perhaps the one whose work most clearly tells a story. His figures inhabit a world where something is happening, has just happened, or is about to happen. Precisely what is never made clear. The secrets his couples share in their private spaces – their bodies and heads so precisely and perfectly aligned – are left for the viewer to puzzle out. A fine collection of Chadwick’s work at Bonhams Modern British and Irish Art sale in London on Wednesday 30 June perfectly illustrates the point. Consigned direct from the family, the six pieces – of different sizes, dates and values – have impeccable provenance and are led by Maquette Jubilee II estimated at £300,000-500,000. Bonhams Director of Modern British and Irish Art Penny Day said: “These remarkable pieces, which are being offered for the first time ... More
101.38 carat D Colour Flawless Diamond. Courtesy Sotheby's.
NEW YORK, NY.- Over the last few months, cryptocurrency has started to make its mark in the world of physical art and objects. Today, it takes its biggest stride yet, as Sotheby’s announces that cryptocurrency will be accepted as payment for one of the earth’s rarest and greatest treasures - an exceptional 101.38-carat pear-shaped D Flawless diamond. Diamonds of this importance are exceptionally rare, with fewer than ten 100 carat+ examples ever having come to auction, only two of them pear-shaped - making the appearance of this flawless gem a landmark event in itself. The fact that cryptocurrency is to be accepted as payment also marks a significant moment in the evolution of the market: no other physical object with an estimate even approaching the US$10-15 million (HK$78-118 million) estimate this diamond carries, has ever been publicly offered for purchase with cryptocurrency. Exceedingly rare, 100-carat ... More
Malcolm’s tenure with Bonhams stretches back more than 20 years. Photo: Bonhams.
HONG KONG.- The international auction house Bonhams has appointed Co-Chairman Malcolm Barber as CEO for Asia, effective immediately. Malcolm is currently based in Hong Kong, and his new title is Co-Chairman and CEO Asia, responsible for growing Bonhams’ business in the region as part of the company’s worldwide strategy. In a career spanning over 40 years, Malcolm Barber has worked in all aspects of the auction business and has conducted some of the most important auctions of fine art and classic motor cars, including the first ever classic car sale in Monaco in 1986, the 2017 world record sale of the famous 1914 Peugeot L45 grand prix racer from the renowned Bothwell Collection in Los Angeles, and the 2012 Hong Kong white-glove sale of Voyages of Discovery – Fifteen works by Chu Teh-Chun and Zao Wou-Ki from a private Portuguese Collection. Malcolm’s tenure with Bonhams stretches back more ... More
BERLIN.-Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) presents Circles – the first European solo exhibition by artist and filmmaker Laura Poitras. Her works expose state power by focusing on specific individuals confronting it. Circles includes six prints from the ANARCHIST series (2016) – describing a chain of interception in which drone and satellite footage has been hacked by the GCHQ (British Government Communications Headquarters, the UK’s signals intelligence service) which was in turn hacked by the NSA (US National Security Agency, responsible for evaluating and decrypting electronic communications), including images from Israeli armed attack drones, the existence of which Israel has denied. This story that Poitras was instrumental in exposing, represents a signal ecosystem of nationstate hacking, surveillance and violence. The exhibition premieres two new video installations. Terror Contagion (2021–ongoing) an investigation by ... More
Michael Rakowitz; The invisible enemy should not exist – Seated Nude Male Figure, Wearing Belt Around Waist (IM77823) (Recovered, Missing, Stolen Series), 2018; middle Eastern packaging and newspapers, glue, cardboard; 96 x 73 x 73 cm; courtesy of the artist and Barbara Wien Gallery.
SAVANNAH, GA.-Telfair Museums in Savannah, Georgia welcomed the traveling exhibition Never Spoken Again: Rogue Stories of Science and Collections. Curated by David Ayala-Alfonso, Never Spoken Again—on view at Telfair’s Jepson Center from June 18 through Sept. 12, 2021—reflects on the birth of modern collections, the art institutions that sustain them, and their origin stories to reveal a universe of erasures, violence, and fortuity. Considering how institutional collections organize our lives, Never Spoken Again brings together artists whose works open up a critique of material culture, iconography, and political ecologies. The works on view make use of the language of the museum display and the ethnographical video to uncover ... More
Quote I don't work after nature, but before nature and with her. Pablo Picasso
More News
Placido Domingo: 'We cannot rewrite our past' PARIS(AFP).- Two years after sexual harassment accusations that cost him his career in the United States, opera legend Placido Domingo is back on stage in Europe, determined to salvage his reputation. For a while, the tenor-turned-baritone's career looked in jeopardy after the Associated Press published allegations in 2019 from some 20 women in the US. They accused him of forcing kisses on them, inappropriate touching and sexual remarks, protected by his power to make and break careers. But Domingo, still considered the king of opera, is performing in Paris on Monday for the first time since January 2019, at the Gaveau Hall. It follows appearances from Moscow to Munich in recent weeks, with more to come in Italy and Austria. Earlier this month, the 80-year-old returned to the stage in Madrid, where he was born in 1941, for a charity gala that ... More
Dennis Tyfus presents a new series of works at Tim Van Laere Gallery ANTWERP.-Tim Van Laere Gallery is presenting its first solo exhibition of Dennis Tyfus, titled Satellite of Lard. In this exhibition, Tyfus presents a new series of drawings, sculptures, installations and sound works. The practice of Dennis Tyfus encompasses a wide range of artistic media and visual images. These range from drawings, installations, videos, magazines and books to music, vinyl publications, his own radio show, concerts and performances. Everything in his oeuvre flows into everything else, with no fixed definitions, no beginning or end. In this regard, he draws heavily on the work of such artists as Dieter Roth, Jim Shaw and Wim T. Schippers. By combining elements from his own psyche with various elements from high and low culture and by approaching them on an equal footing, he creates a universe in which the personal, the everyday ... More
Omer Tiroche Gallery opens a solo exhibition by multi-disciplinary artist Maayan Sophia Weisstub LONDON.-Omer Tiroche Gallery announced Mnēmē, a solo exhibition by multi-disciplinary artist Maayan Sophia Weisstub. Utilising a diverse array of mediums, including installation, video and photography, Weisstub’s work explores the emotionality and depth that can be found in the mundane, highlighting the meaning that we can place onto everyday objects and occurrences. By including items with specific significance to her and her family, Weisstub also adds a layer of personal meaning to her work, reflecting on loss, nostalgia, and how we have learned to cope with the inevitability of death. The exhibition is centred around an installation, Mnēmē, which is comprised of a desk, a chair, a book and a glass of milk. While the scene seems commonplace, closer examination reveals that each object is subtly breathing in different rhythms. ... More
'I needed it': A well-timed outdoor theater opens on Little Island NEW YORK(NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The timing could not have been better. After the pandemic drove New Yorkers outdoors for everything from dining to haircuts, a 687-seat al fresco amphitheater opened for its first ticketed shows over the weekend on Little Island, a new oasis on the Hudson River, offering a new place for those tentatively reemerging into crowds again to gather for open-air performances. The amphitheater opened with an emotionally rousing performance by Broadway Inspirational Voices, a professional choir run by Michael McElroy that is made up of chorus members who sang in Broadway musicals such as “Ain’t Too Proud” and “The Lion King” before their theaters were shut down and they were thrust into unemployment. Some cheered, and some wept at the return of sights and sounds that had been in short supply during ... More
An orchestra veteran on music's post-pandemic future NEW YORK(NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Mark Volpe grew up steeped in classical music, the son of a trumpet player in the Minnesota Orchestra. An aspiring clarinetist, he stumbled into a career managing orchestras after failing to win auditions for professional ensembles and enrolling in law school. Volpe, 63, went on to become one of music’s most powerful figures, eventually leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra as president and CEO — a post he leaves this month after 23 years. On his watch, the orchestra has won accolades for its artistry, including under its current music director, Andris Nelsons, recruited by Volpe in 2013. The orchestra’s endowment has more than tripled, to $540 million, making it one of the wealthiest classical ensembles in the nation. When, in January 2020, he announced his plans to retire, Volpe expected a relatively ... More
'Jessica Stockholder Paper Works in Kathmandu' opens at Galerie Nathalie Obadia PARIS.-Galerie Nathalie Obadia is presenting the work of American artist Jessica Stockholder, who is currently featured in a variety of projects at Centre Pompidou: the artist is participating in the exhibition Elles font l’abstraction and is presenting a large installation in the museum’s forum. She is also curating Jessica Stockholder: Cut a rug a round square at the OGR - Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Turin. The exhibition at the gallery, the seventh in the artist’s career, reveals a series of works on paper, «bas reliefs» made according to a pure craft tradition during an artist residency in Nepal in 2019. Invited by the art production company Kathmandu Projects, Jessica Stockholder spent several weeks in the Nepalese capital learning about the technique of Lokta paper-making in a workshop on a hill overlooking the city centre. The paper is made ... More
Now on view: Largest presentation to date of Vanessa Baird on view at Kunsthall Stavanger STAVANGER.- In the largest and most significant presentation to date of Vanessa Baird’s artistic universe, the acclaimed Norwegian artist is taking over all of Kunsthall Stavanger’s galleries. The exhibition comprises six galleries filled with Baird’s works, from intimate self portraits to large-scale room installations. Most of the works were produced during 2019-2021, and are shown here for the first time. Also on view are a selection of works by artists that are close to Baird: Her mother, Maureen Baird, and her long-time collaborator Mette Hellenes. “Kunsthall Stavanger is proud to present this substantial exhibition by Vanessa Baird, who is one of Norway’s most important contemporary artists,” says Kunsthall Stavanger’s Director Hanne Mugaas. “In the exhibition, Baird puts the spotlight on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has affected us all. Through her personal experiences, visitors ... More
National Air and Space Museum receives $1 million gift from Flexjet WASHINGTON, DC.-The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has received $1 million from Flexjet to support the new “Thomas W. Haas We All Fly” gallery. The exhibition will celebrate general aviation by telling the story of its many aspects in the United States and how it affects the average visitor’s daily life. The gallery is part of the museum’s ongoing transformation of all its galleries at its flagship building in Washington, D.C., and is scheduled to open in 2022. “We are grateful for this generous support from Flexjet for our new general aviation gallery,” said Dorothy Cochrane, aviation curator at the museum. “The gift will enable us to continue to tell these important stories, showing young people, and all visitors, the many possibilities open to them in the aviation field.” The “Thomas W. Haas We All Fly” gallery will cover diverse themes, including ... More
Tel Aviv Museum of Art opens Zadok 'Ben David: People I saw but never met' TEL AVIV.- The installation People I Saw but Never Met includes more than six-thousand figures of men, women and children. These are people that artist Zadok Ben-David had seen during his travels around the world—in a market in Kazakhstan, on the streets of Tokyo, near his studio in London, on a beach in Tel Aviv, even in Antarctica—but had never met personally. Something in their presence—a facial expression, or a momentary gesture—caught his eye and made him take their photograph. He then sketched these photographs with pencil and later, by using photo-etching, he turned the sketches into a thin metal cut-out painted in black. The installation includes thousands of these small figures standing at equidistance on a bed of sand stretched across hundreds of meters, making for an intricate human landscape. Ben-David began ... More
Springfield Art Museum announces appointment of museum educator SPRINGFIELD, MO.-The Springfield Art Museum announced the appointment of Jenny Schwartzberg as Museum Educator. Effective July 26, 2021, Schwartzberg will lead the Museum’s educational programming efforts as a key member of the leadership team. In addition, Schwartzberg will work closely with the volunteer Museum docents and other Museum staff who assist in delivering educational services to over 60,000 patrons a year, 8,500 of whom are children from over 65 local and rural school districts located across southwest Missouri. An experienced museum educator, Schwartzberg previously served as the Curator of Education and Education Coordinator at The Historic New Orleans Collection. Her work has focused on making museum collections and exhibitions more accessible to students, educators, and families through programs like ... More
Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art opens an exhibition of recent works by E.L. Stewart GREAT FALLS, MT .- E.L. Stewart’s emotionally stirring paintings about life, love, loss, and renewal are presented at Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in her exhibition of recent works titled, Between Earth and Heaven. The paintings are a glimpse into the artist’s soul after experiencing the impact of illness, the death of a loved one and the enduring heartache that results, “I have found that grief is often invisible. It seems to hide in shadows but can re-enter our lives at any time.” Stewart’s paintings consist of figurative pieces and landscapes that contain narrative elements within lightly abstracted forms filled with movement from flowing brush strokes that offer a feeling of dreamlike whimsy within a flurry of color. “My works, particularly my figures, portray the essence of living persons, wildly vulnerable in the home of the soul and spirit. I look beyond ... More
