Articles

National museum of Sweden presents Hella Jongerius’s exhibition Breathing Colour which is a visual installation that features the results of her longstanding research into colour, shape, light and materials.

The Venice Biennale said Friday that it has appointed Cecilia Alemani as the new Director of its Visual Arts Department, making her the first woman to hold the job. As a result the Italian curator, who comes from Milan and is based in New York, has the task of planning and curating the upcoming 59th International Art Exhibition.

Since the beginning of January there is a central point of contact in Berlin for enquiries from those whose cultural assets were seized as a result of persecution under the National Socialist regime, and their descendants. This “Help Desk” is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, on Monday received Ahmad Jalali, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and discussed tensions in the Middle East with particular regard to heritage and culture. The Director-General recalled the provisions of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, two legal instruments that have been ratified by both the United States and Iran.

Artist John Baldessari, whose irreverent, multimedia work and lengthy career as a teacher at CalArts and UCLA inspired an entire generation of artists, died Thursday at the age of 88 at his home in Venice, California. According to the New York Times, his studio manager and foundation chairwoman, Virginia Gatelein, confirmed his death on Sunday. At times a sculptor, a painter, photographer and videographer, Baldessari’s surrealist mixed-media body of work helped shape the modern Los Angeles art scene and, eventually, the world’s.

Established in the mid-16th century and built over successive generations, the Princely Collections, Liechtenstein is one of the most storied private art collections in Europe. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the princely family made the decision to sell a number of their most important paintings and sculptures, which soon found homes in museums around the world, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the National Gallery of Canada.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo announced today that Lawrence Abu Hamdan is the third recipient of the the Future Fields Commission—an ongoing series of commissions offered jointly by the two institutions to support the creation, production, and acquisition of new work by international artists working to expand the fields of video, film, performance, and sound.

Berlin’s Kupferstichkabinett is home to an outstanding collection of prints from the 1960s – with a particular focus on works of Pop Art. This exhibition will shine a spotlight on the various facets of Pop Art (with a focus on the US), for which silk-screen printing was the most important medium of international dissemination. This medium allowed artists to use motifs from advertising, newspapers or comic strips to translate the colourful world of consumer culture into vibrant, often provocative images.

A sculpture by Dame Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), a sculpture by Denis Mitchell (1912-1993) and a painting by William Scott CBE RA (1913-1989) have been acquired for the nation through the Cultural Gifts Scheme, administered by the Arts Council.

The Ukrainian arts scene is increasingly making its mark. Painter Ivan Marchuk was featured in The Daily Telegraph’s list of top 100 living geniuses. Oleg Tistol’s work is internationally recognized. He represented the Ukraine in the Sao Paulo Art Biennale in 1994 and the Venice Biennale in 2001. Eugenia Gapchinska’s adorable chubby angels have started a national meme that is quickly moving into international consciousness.

Many of the paintings that Picasso did over a period of some four years (summer 1926-spring 1930) form a cohesive group, which Christian Zervos would later (1938) as “Tableaux magiques”. With these works principally figure paintings – Picasso opened a new chapter in his oeuvre, probing a deep emotional dimension, which anticipates the power of Guernica a decade later. This was accompanied by formal developments that are as radical as anything he had done before, including experimentation with materials and the realization of monumental sculptural ideas in paint.

Subscribed to controversy, Jeff Koons is also beginning to be condemned for counterfeiting. In a judgment consulted on Saturday December 21 by AFP, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed a 2017 judgment ordering the company Jeff Koons LLC and the Center Pompidou, where the disputed work was to be exhibited, to pay 20,000 together € of damages to the beneficiaries of the French photographer Jean-François Bauret, for moral and patrimonial damage, for having infringed one of his photographs.

Diaspora at Home is a group exhibition which provides an opportunity to engage in a variety of conversations on the issue of mobility within Africa. Featuring works by Nidhal Chamekh, Bady Dalloul, Em’kal Eyongakpa, Rahima Gambo, Laura Henno, Abraham Oghobase, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Chloe Quenum. And screenings by Jumana Manna and Marie Voignier.

'The Finding of Moses' had been on generous long-term loan to the National Gallery from a private collection for almost twenty years – so long that many people assumed it already formed part of the national collection. It has been the subject of talks, exhibitions, publications and educational activities, and is a focal point of the Italian Baroque gallery where it is displayed alongside masterpieces by artists such as Caravaggio and Guido Reni.

The Belgian artist known by the name Panamarenko has died this weekend. He was 79 years old. Panamarenko’s real name was Henri Van Herwegen and he was known for his vibrant personality and for his painting and sculptural work. He is considered to be one of the most important Belgian artists of the 20th century.

Perhaps one of the most recognizable image from Haring’s work, the radiant baby is a simple outline of a baby or person crawling on the floor on their hands and knees with lines emanating from them. Haring himself has commented that for him this baby represents youthful innocence, purity and goodness.

Nothing was heard of Gustav Klimt's Portrait of a Lady after it was stolen nearly 23 years ago from a modern art gallery in Piacenza, northern Italy. There seemed little prospect of the masterpiece, valued at €60m (£50m; $66m), ever being found, reports BBC.

Step across the red cord, take captain Frans Banninck Cocq’s hand, zoom in and let yourself be carried away into the world of the Night Watch. Operation Night Watch is the largest research and conservation project ever on 'the Night Watch'. The Rijksmuseum invites members of the public to watch the entire process at the museum and online.

In an unprecedented, world premiere exhibition, the National Gallery of Victoria presents the work of two of the most significant and influential artists of the late twentieth century in Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines. Exclusive to Melbourne, the exhibition offers new and fascinating insights into their unique visual languages and reveals, for the first time, the many intersections between their lives, practices and ideas.

For his latest offering to the art world, Maurizio Cattelan has been going bananas. The Italian conceptual artist made the headlines in September this year when his America (2016) – an 18 carat gold, fully functioning toilet – was stolen while on display in Blenheim Palace. His latest stunt, displayed in the booth of French gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin at Art Basel Miami Beach, is a single banana, which he acquired from the local supermarket and stuck to a large wall with silver duct tape. He has entitled his banana Comedian.