Category Archives: Art and design

Melbourne’s Anna Schwartz gallery drops artist Mike Parr after political piece on Israel-Gaza war

Posted on by

Gallery owner, who has represented Parr for 36 years, says she was sickened by ‘hate graffiti’ in the work, but denies censoring it and has kept it on display

The Melbourne gallery owner Anna Schwartz has dropped the provocative performance artist Mike Parr after a 36-year relationship, after a piece commenting on Israel’s military action in Gaza.

Schwartz sent Parr a two-sentence email on Sunday, the day after he installed the third part of his exhibition Sunset Claws, informing him she would no longer represent him.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Virginia museum to return 44 stolen or looted works to Egypt, Italy and Turkey

Posted on by

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts says it received ‘irrefutable evidence’ 44 ancient art objects had been stolen or looted

Virginia’s state-run fine arts museum has begun the process of returning 44 pieces of ancient art to their countries of origin after law enforcement officials presented the institution with what it called “irrefutable evidence” that the works had been stolen or looted.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts announced in a news release on Tuesday that it had “safely delivered” the pieces to the Manhattan district attorney’s office in New York, which it said had conducted an inquiry into the artworks as part of a broader investigation, along with the Department of Homeland Security. The DA’s office will facilitate the return of the objects to Italy, Egypt and Turkey, according to the Richmond museum.

Continue reading...

Parts of Anselm Kiefer sculpture stolen from French warehouse

Posted on by

Lead books stolen from artwork, representing loss of more than $1m, according to prosecutor

Thieves have stolen parts of a lead sculpture by the German contemporary artist Anselm Kiefer from a warehouse in France, representing a loss of more than $1m (£785,000), a prosecutor said on Friday.

Kiefer, 78, is renowned for his bleak sculptures and installations confronting his country’s Nazi past, which sell for millions.

Continue reading...

Sunak says retaining Parthenon marbles is matter of law as he denies ‘hissy fit’

Posted on by

PM reaffirms stance after George Osborne suggests snub to Greek counterpart was result of ‘petulance’

Rishi Sunak has denied having a “hissy fit” over the Parthenon marbles row and has said they cannot be returned to Greece “as a matter of law”.

The prime minister this week accused his Greek counterpart of using a trip to London to “grandstand” over the issue of the ancient Greek sculptures.

Continue reading...

Nan Goldin named art world’s most influential figure

Posted on by

Photographer and campaigner against Sackler family tops ArtReview Power 100 list

Nan Goldin, the pioneering photographer and campaigner against the billionaires who fuelled the US opioid epidemic, has topped an annual ranking of the contemporary art world’s most influential people and organisations.

Goldin, 70, took the number one spot on the ArtReview Power 100 list. This year, for the first time, the top 10 is made up entirely of artists who use their work and platforms to intervene in the pressing social and political issues of the current moment.

Continue reading...

V&A director says museum trustees ‘infantilised’ amid row over Parthenon marbles

Posted on by

Tristram Hunt says trustees should be able to ‘make case’ for items to be retained or returned to countries of origin

Museum trustees should be able to “make the case” whether items in their collections should be retained or returned to their countries of origin, but instead were being “infantilised” and “hidebound” by legislation, Tristram Hunt, the director of the V&A, has said.

He was speaking as a diplomatic row between the UK and Greece over the future of the Parthenon marbles, held at the British Museum, blew up this week after Rishi Sunak abruptly cancelled a meeting with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Continue reading...

Greek PM bemoans lack of progress on return of Parthenon marbles

Posted on by

Kyriakos Mitsotakis to raise issue of ‘reunification’ of sculptures when he meets Rishi Sunak this week

Talks over a possible return of the Parthenon marbles from the British Museum to Greece are not advancing quick enough, the Greek prime minister has said before his meeting with Rishi Sunak this week.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis likened the British Museum’s possession of the sculptures – also known as the Elgin marbles – to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half, saying it was not a question of ownership but “reunification”.

Continue reading...

Banksy reveals his first name in resurfaced interview clip

Posted on by

As a 2003 recording appearing to reveal his famously well-concealed identity comes to light, a lawsuit threatens to make it fully public

A lost interview with the street artist Banksy, which contains the only known instance of him revealing his first name, has been unearthed.

The 2003 recording features an interview with a BBC reporter who asks if Banksy’s real name is “Robert Banks”, to which the artist replies “It’s Robbie”.

Continue reading...

Venice Biennale’s new, rightwing director has art world guessing

Posted on by

Meloni’s party is pleased by the appointment but Pietrangelo Buttafuoco has surprised before – not least by adopting Islam

When Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the incoming new president of the Venice Biennale, was once asked in an interview whether he was a fascist, the Italian rightwing journalist and public intellectual replied: “I am not a fascist. I am something else.”

After Buttafuoco was this week officially nominated to lead the oldest and largest cultural exhibition in the world, it is not just the artists, actors, architects, film-makers, dancers and musicians whose work will be shown at the coming biennales’ six events who are asking themselves what exactly that “something else” may be.

Continue reading...

Ten metres high and 10 tonnes: Louise Bourgeois’ giant spider crawls into Sydney

Posted on by

Titled Maman, the bronze, steel and marble arachnid will be the looming centrepiece of the Art Gallery of NSW’s major summer exhibition

Looming over the sandstone steps of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, a giant spider is redirecting foot traffic.

The giant spider, titled Maman, is one of the late French-American artist Louise Bourgeois’ most renowned – and most outsized – works, towering at almost 10m at its highest point and sprawling just as wide. When I visit on the final day of installation, it is cordoned off – though at regular intervals, visitors peer through the gaps to gawp at the spindly creation within. People take photos from various angles in an effort to bypass the fence; others, circumnavigating the sculpture, end up down back alleys trying to find their way back.

Continue reading...

Hungary sacks museum chief for not enforcing under-18s ban at LGBTQ+ exhibition

Posted on by

László Simon dismissed after National Museum allowed children to visit a World Press Photo show

The director of Budapest’s National Museum has been fired from his role over a contentious anti-LGBTQ+ law that he himself voted for when he was a member of parliament.

Hungary’s government on Monday dismissed director László Simon after his museum allowed under-18s to visit a World Press Photo exhibition featuring images of LGBTQ+ people, despite laws banning the “promotion of homosexuality” to minors.

Continue reading...

Blockbuster show on Genghis Khan opens in France after row with China

Posted on by

Exhibition features objects never before seen in Europe and draws lessons from Mongol empire relevant to today

It was a major cultural row between France and China, prompting a history museum to pull the plug on one of its most important exhibitions of the decade accusing the Beijing authorities of interference and trying to rewrite history.

But now the Chateau des ducs de Bretagne history museum in Nantes has finally opened its blockbuster exhibition on Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire, with large crowds queueing to see hundreds of objects that have never been shown in Europe, some dug up by archaeologists only three years ago. It is part of a new modern reading of the geopolitical importance of the vast continental empire.

Continue reading...

Michelangelo’s secret sketches under church in Florence open to public

Posted on by

Artist spent months in a chamber below the Medici Chapels to evade Pope Clement VII’s death sentence

Michelangelo Buonarroti left behind a trail of artistic marvels, including his statue of David and the sublime frescoes that adorn the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Now a “secret” room in Florence whose walls are sketched with doodles that the Italian Renaissance master is believed to have created while evading a death sentence ordered by Pope Clement VII amid his falling out with the powerful Medici family is to officially open to the public for the first time.

Continue reading...

Dutch throne on display for first time as monarchy tries to win back public

Posted on by

Seat used during state opening of parliament takes centre stage in exhibition about royal power

The Dutch throne has been moved for the first time from the 13th-century Ridderzaal in The Hague to be displayed in an exhibition, as the Netherlands’ monarchy seeks to further open up to the public amid growing republican sentiment.

The wooden chair, upholstered in red velvet, takes centre stage in the Power of the Throne exhibition at Paleis Het Loo, a summer retreat for the House of Orange-Nassau that continued to be used deep into the 20th century.

Continue reading...

Silvio Berlusconi heirs weigh up fate of his mostly worthless art collection

Posted on by

Italian former PM estimated to have spent €20m on artworks, often buying through TV auctions

The heirs of Silvio Berlusconi inherited billions from his empire but now they are faced with a dilemma: what to do with his vast collection of mostly worthless artwork, including paintings of nude women and the Madonna, stored in a warehouse opposite his home near Milan.

The former prime minister, who died in June at the age of 86, reportedly amassed the 25,000 works during the final years of his life, buying the majority from late-night shopping channels in his quest to become a top collector.

Continue reading...

‘Demand interestingness’: Thomas Heatherwick rails against boring buildings

Posted on by

Designer says soulless structures make people stressed and lonely as he launches book and campaign

Boring, soulless buildings are making people stressed and lonely, according to Thomas Heatherwick, the British designer behind the 2012 Olympic cauldron.

The designer is embarking on a crusade to persuade architects and developers to create buildings that inspire feelings of joy and stimulation.

Continue reading...

A radical piece of cake: feminist sculptural installation restaged at Tate Britain

Posted on by

Bobby Baker’s An Edible Family in a Mobile Home (1976) will be recreated – this time with a vegan option

When Bobby Baker’s sculptural work An Edible Family in a Mobile Home was installed nearly 50 years ago, art lovers were invited to not only touch her work but eat it. Now, the seminal work by the intersectional feminist is coming back – except this time, there’s going to be a vegan option.

From 8 November, Tate Britain will present a restaging of Baker’s radical installation.

Continue reading...

Pokémon no go: Van Gogh Museum stops free cards amid tout chaos

Posted on by

Booming resale market for cards featuring Pikachu in style of Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait With Grey Felt Hat

They are more commonly associated with pop concerts or football matches than art exhibitions. But rows of ticket touts have become a familiar sight outside the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in recent weeks as they seek to get their hands on a limited edition Pokémon card.

There was so much interest in the card, which was being offered as part of an exhibition of modern art by Pokémon artists inspired by Van Gogh’s links to Japanese culture, that the museum has clamped down.

Continue reading...

Glasgow museum says its £3m Auguste Rodin sculpture is missing

Posted on by

Plaster sculpture bought by Glasgow Museum from the artist in 1901 is ‘unlocated’

A statue by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, part of his famous Les Bourgeois de Calais group, is currently “unlocated” in Glasgow’s art collections, museum officials have said.

The plaster sculpture, bought by Glasgow Museums from the artist in 1901, was exhibited in Kelvingrove Park from 25 June to 30 September 1949, according to Glasgow Life, the organisation in charge of many of the Scottish city’s cultural venues. But since then, it seems to have been lost.

Continue reading...

How Velázquez’s slave became a renowned artist in his own right

Posted on by

Juan de Pareja’s story sheds light on the role of slavery in creating the great works of Spain’s golden age

The portrait, showing a man of African descent gazing frankly towards the artist, set the art world abuzz when it was revealed by Diego Velázquez in 1650.

The painting cemented the artist’s stratospheric rise, but the spotlight has been recently cast on the extraordinary trajectory of the man who is the subject of the portrait, Juan de Pareja, who went from being enslaved in Velázquez’s studio for more than two decades to becoming a successful artist in his own right.

Continue reading...