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RELIGION NEWS SERVICE By Emily McFarlan Miller A nonprofit has calculated that every religious congregation in the U.S. — Christian or otherwise — would have to raise an additional $714,000 every year for the next 10 years to make up for the 2018 budget cuts President Trump has proposed. “There is no way our country’s 350,000 religious congregations can make up for the cuts in the services that help hungry, poor, and other vulnerable people,” the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, said in a written statement . “Congress should not justify budget cuts by saying that churches and charities can pick up the slack. They cannot.” [ More ] Bread for the World, a bipartisan organization mobilizing Christians to urge their lawmakers to end hunger at home and abroad, has figured every religious congregation in the U.S. would have to raise an additional $714,000 every year for the next 10 years to offset the budget cuts in President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget. Infograp...

THE NEW YORK TIMES Show Us Your Walls By Ted Loos Victoria Rogers at her Manhattan apartment. The large piece behind her is the first work she collected: Émile Bernard’s “Vue de Pont-Aven” (1887), which is uncharacteristic of what she collects now. Below the Bernard at left is a work by Bruce High Quality Foundation, based on a photo of Ms. Rogers and a friend. The top drawing is by Lorna Simpson, while on her table are vases by Kara Walker. Credit 2017 Emile Bernard/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Tony Cenicola/The New York Times NEW YORK---Victoria Rogers, who has spent the past year as director of arts for the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, is one of those people who juggles so many commitments — from work to nonprofit activities to social engagements — that you may feel a little lazy or unpopular by comparison. Art collecting is one of her many pursuits, as evidenced by her crowded Greenwich Village apartment, a studio that is trying, with the addition of a part...

RAW MAGAZINE Reverend Albert Lee Wagner, detail: Flee From Egypt-Moses Parting The Red Sea, gift of Pat Handal BALTIMORE---Opening on July 1 at the American Visionary Art Museum is the exhibition "Reverend Albert Lee Wagner: Miracle at Midnight." Curated from over 50 masterpieces by Reverend Albert Lee Wagner that have been recently gifted to the American Visionary Art Museum by Gene and Linda Kangas. The exhibition will also include two of Reverend Wagner’s largest works, donated to AVAM’s permanent collection ten years ago by Pat Handal. "Visionary art" as defined for the purposes of the American Visionary Art Museum refers to art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself. [ More ]

TIMEOUT By Emily Nicol Unknown artist Ragaputra Velavala of Bhairava c1710, Art Gallery of New South Wales SYDNEY---Every time I walk into the Art Gallery of New South Wales I immediately think: I need to come here more often! Downstairs in the Lower Asian Gallery is the captivating exhibition Glorious: Earthly Pleasures and Heavenly Realms , featuring works from India, China, Japan and Korea, across all disciplines. This collection of works displays the importance of ritual, observation and ceremony in ancient cultures, and the importance of otherworldly realms in their art. Some pieces date all the way back to the 1st century (a reliquary box in schist and gold, featuring a lotus design, from Pakistan); there are also 12th century tea vessels from China, 18th century watercolours, and 19th century theatrical costumes, all in incredibly good condition. [ More ]

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR By Noelle Swan Detail from Hydra and Kali by Damien Hirst. VENICE--- Damien Hirst’s first major exhibition in 10 years begins not in the gallery but on the page, with the tale of a shipwreck supposedly discovered off the coast of East Africa. The ship’s contents are said to be the treasures of Cif Amotan II, a freed slave from Antioch, who spent his final days collecting artifacts of distant cultures. A number of the sculptures are exhibited prior to undergoing restoration, heavily encrusted in corals and other marine life, at times rendering their forms virtually unrecognizable,” the exhibition guidebook explains. This show has also sparked controversy, with some raising concerns of cultural and artistic appropriation. But for many Hirst fans, the borrowing and melding of cultures – and the debate that it invites – is simply part of the show. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Mexico, Anahuac, Teotihuacan, Moon Pyramid. (Photo by: Eye Ubiquitous/UIG via Getty Images) Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco SAN FRANCISCO---The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) are pleased to premiere Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire, the first major exhibition on Teotihuacan in the U.S. in over twenty years. The ancient metropolis of Teotihuacan is one of the largest and most important archeological sites in the world, and the most visited archeological site in Mexico. At its peak in 400 CE, Teotihuacan was the cultural, political, economic, and religious center of Mesoamerica, and inhabited by a multiethnic population of more than 100,000 people. This historic exhibition will feature over 200 artifacts and artworks from the site, and is a rare opportunity to view objects drawn from major collections in Mexico, some recently excavated – many on view in the U.S. for the first time – together in one spectacular exhibition...

ARTDAILY Saint John the Baptist, c. 1500. Attributed to Jan Crocq (Netherlandish, Antwerp, active at the Court of René II, Duke of Lorraine, at Nancy and Bar-le-Duc, 1486–1510). Limestone; 163 x 59 x 40 cm (64 1/4 x 23 3/8 x 15 3/4 in). The Cleveland Museum of Art. CLEVELAND--- The Cleveland Museum of Art’s recent acquisitions include a medieval limestone sculpture of Saint John the Baptist by Jan Crocq , six Pre-Columbian objects from the South American Andes, three Japanese Edo period porcelain dishes, and a monumental photograph by contemporary Irish artist Richard Mosse. Saint John the Baptist, much beloved and widely venerated during the Middle Ages, is depicted in this sculpture in a formal manner typical of Netherlandish art of the 1400s and early 1500s. The sculpture is impressive for the deeply undercut folds of drapery as well as the saint’s curling hair and beard that achieve an almost photographic realism characteristic of Burgundian and Netherlandish art of this pe...

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Christine Hauser LITTLE ROCK---The towering granite monument engraved with the Ten Commandments took years to make and was plagued by controversy, but finally on Tuesday morning it was installed on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol. It did not last long. Less than 24 hours after it was embedded into a base of concrete and steel rods behind the Capitol building, the monument, which weighed about three tons, was smashed into pieces when Michael Tate Reed II, a 32-year-old resident of the city of Van Buren in western Arkansas, slammed his car into it, according to Pulaski County sheriff’s office records and state officials. [ More ]

ARTDAILY Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594), Angel Foretelling the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (1560-1570), photo KIK-IRPA. ANTWERP---The Rubens House has unveiled David Bowie’s Tintoretto. The British rock star owned "St Catherine" by the Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto (1518–1594) for over 30 years. Following Bowie’s death in 2016, his exceptional art collection was auctioned on November 10 that same year at Sotheby’s in London. The monumental St Catherine altarpiece, painted in the 1560s, was purchased by a private collector who announced to the world’s press within minutes of the sale that he would be loaning the painting long term to the Rubens House – ‘a museum Bowie loved’. [ More ]

ARTDAILY Jean Chastellain's "The Adoration of the Magi," (1529) PHILADELPHIA---The Philadelphia Museum of Art today announced a number of new acquisitions that will significantly enrich its collection. Among the works that have been recently acquired are: a group of contemporary films and videos; Japanese ink paintings mounted as handscrolls, hanging scrolls, and folding screens; nine pieces of early American furniture that illuminate the artistic achievements of cabinetmakers in colonial New England and Pennsylvania; and a major work in stained glass dating to the 1520s commissioned for a church in Paris. These works have come to the Museum variously as gifts, promised gifts, and purchases. Some will be placed on view in the galleries in the coming weeks. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Robin Pogrebin The Lower East Side gallery On Stellar Rays. Credit Kirsten Kilponen NEW YORK---Midsize galleries have long struggled to compete in a field increasingly dominated by mega-galleries with multiple locations, like Gagosian, David Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth. But lately the trend toward an intensely commercial and competitive art market has resulted in a critical mass of galleries folding, moving or merging. What is widening the divide? High-priced real estate in gallery neighborhoods like Chelsea, and the proliferation of expensive art fairs, where collectors now do most of their browsing and buying . Participating in an art fair these days can cost a gallery hundreds of thousands of dollars. [ More ]

JEWISH STANDARDS By Joanna Palmer Joel Silverstein, "Ten Commandments - A Question." Inspired by an 1,800 year old Jewish mural , this shows Jerusalem, Moses and Aaron, drowning Egyptians, the flooding red sea and Wonder woman, mixing figurative art with pop references. Jews and art. Art and Jews. It’s one of those weird relationships. Many Jews seem to be drawn to art. But it can be a troubled relationship nonetheless. Jewish law has prescriptions against figurative art that kept many Jews away from it for a very long time. Other questions that hover over any discussion of Jewish art also are the very basic ones: What is Jewish art? What is a Jewish artist? Do you have to be Jewish to make Jewish art? Can a Jewish artist make non-Jewish art? How about a-Jewish art? The Jewish Art Salon holds a salon to raise money toward its exhibit, “Jerusalem Between Heaven and Earth” in the Jerusalem Biennale 2017 on Monday, June 26, at 7:30 p.m. in Teaneck; call (201) 837-6157 fo...

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE By Toby Axelrod "Reichsbischof Ludwig Müller" (2016) by Yury Kharchenko. Grafit und Sprayfarbe auf Leinwand, 200x190 cm; © Yury Kharchenko WITTENBERG---What was a young Jewish artist doing in a former prison in Wittenberg, Germany? Nailing his art to the wall, of course. Yury Kharchenko , who turned 31 this month, is one of around 65 international artists — including Ai Weiwei , Gilbert and George , Olafur Eliasson and Erwin Wurm — who have contributed to an exhibition in the very city where Martin Luther is said to have nailed his revolutionary thesis to a church door, triggering the Protestant Reformation half-a-millennium ago. For Mr. Kharchenko, a rising star, the exhibition " Luther and the Avant-Garde ," which runs until September 17 at the Old Prison, has provided a chance to confront controversial aspects of the Reformation, including Luther’s well-documented antisemitism and its ongoing legacy. [ More ]

RELIGION NEWS SERVICE By Madeleine Buckley What makes this sixth-century Chinese object, the Cosmic Buddha, exceptional are the detailed narrative scenes that cover its surface, representing moments in the life of the historical Buddha as well as the Realms of Existence, a symbolic map of the Buddhist world. WASHINGTON---For nearly nine decades, the Cosmic Buddha statue stood alone at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art. Museum-goers would pass by the headless, handless statue, a relic of sixth-century China, without a second glance. “It is a difficult sculpture to love because it’s so complicated,” he said. “It’s not sensuous. It’s not a beautiful, white marble surface.” Yet, as an expert in ancient Chinese objects, he understood the major religious and historic implications of those scenes carved on the form-fitting robe depicting Buddhism’s six realms of existence, from the heavenly realm of the devas at the top to the hot and cold hells of the dead at the bottom. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By  Gregory  &  Ernest Disney-Britton Bill Viola's "The Deluge (Going Forth By Day)", 2002, a five-part video and sound installation This past Friday's rain was biblical! It rained so hard that Greg was stranded in his truck and Ernest's office roof started leaking. Coincidentally, that same day's art news was " The Deluge " (2002) by Bill Viola . In his 35-minute video installation, a flood of 65,000 gallons of water rushes down a stairway flushing the panicked residents into the streets. Inspired by "The Flood and the Receding of the Waters" (1439–40) by Paolo Uccello , both works are currently on view in a retrospective exhibition at Florence, Italy’s Palazzo Strozzi, “Bill Viola, Electronic Renaissance.” Bill Viola's video works are collected by major museums and churches, but Sedition.com also offers a 500 edition  water-themed  digital work for private homes.

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Holland Cotter “La Cena” (“The Supper”), from 1991, which depicts a version of the Christian “Last Supper,” replaces the Jesus figure with the princess Sikán. Credit Michael Nagle for The New York Times NEW YORK---Late last week, the Trump administration announced that it would be re-abnormalizing the relationship between the United States and Cuba. A few days earlier, El Museo del Barrio in Manhattan opened “NKame: A Retrospective of Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón,” reminding us exactly how much we have to gain from a free exchange of cultural energy with our island neighbor. Most of the narratives are derived from the Afro-Cuban religion called Abakuá, which came to the island in the 18th century with slaves arriving from what is now Nigeria and Cameroon. Their religion struck deep roots and is still practiced there. (“NKame” means “greeting” or “praise” in the Abakuá language.) [ More ]

ARTDAILY Gerrit Van Honthorst (1592–1656), Christ before the High Priest, about 1617. Oil on canvas, 272 x 183 cm. The National Gallery, London. Bought, 1922 © The National Gallery, London. EDINBURGH---The revolution in painting sparked by one of the world’s most celebrated (and notorious) artists is the subject of the major summer exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh this year. Beyond Caravaggio brings a group of four important paintings by the bad boy of seventeenth-century Italian art to Scotland for the first time, and explores the extraordinary impact of his work across Europe, both during his lifetime and in the decades following his premature death. Organised in partnership with the National Gallery in London and the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, this is the first exhibition devoted to this theme ever to be mounted in Britain. [ More ]

AV CLUB By Ignatiy Vishnevetsky "The Ornithologist" directed by João Pedro Rodrigues; Strand Releasing; Opens June 23, IFC Center and Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York City A nude swimmer, hunky like an underwear model, slits the surface of a pond at dawn. He slips a canoe into a river, only to be caught in rapids and rescued by two Chinese hikers lost on a Christian pilgrimage along the Way Of St. James, who string him from a tree in rope bondage and threaten to castrate him. He goes skinny-dipping with a deaf, goat-teat-sucking shepherd named Jesus. He is shot by topless huntresses in a forest clearing. And like the jokes goes, “What do you call this act?” “The Ornithologist.” In João Pedro Rodrigues' obscurantist and presumably very personal narrative, which bears disconcerting similarities to a grating American indie called The Catechism Cataclysm, he is also an allegorical stand-in for the Catholic patron saint of lost things, St. Anthony, who was also b...

THE NEW YORK TIMES Show Us Your Walls By William L. Hamilton The playwright Lynn Nottage, at home in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. The large painting above her is by Norman Lewis, who was a good friend of her father’s. Two works by Romare Bearden are at far left. Credit All Rights Reserved, Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York; All Rights Reserved, Hal Woodruff/Licensed by VAGA, New York; Stephanie Diani for The New York Times NEW YORK---Staring at the wall might seem like the worst thing that could happen to a writer. But for the playwright Lynn Nottage , the walls of the Brooklyn house where she lives with her husband, Tony Gerber, their two children and her father are her muse. They are also a who’s who of 20th-century African-American art, with a floor-to-ceiling display that includes Norman Lewis and Romare Bearden . The collection continues into the 21st century with Helen Evans Ramsaran and others. Her walls are her windows on the world. “You collect it becaus...

KUOW By Editor A detail from "Alephbet" by Grisha Bruskin. PORTLAND---This weekend is the big reopening for the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education . Remember the space in Portland’s South Park Blocks, where the dearly departed Museum of Contemporary Craft once lived? The space is now the new home of OJMCHE. The move doubles the museum's auditorium capacity, expands the archives collection and Holocaust education programs dramatically, and sets the stage for a bigger conversation about Jewish life, identity and community. Grisha Bruskin’s “Alefbet” will be on view at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education through October. The museum’s grand opening is Sunday, June 11. [ More ]

APOLLO By Isabel Stevens Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity (installation view; 2013), Bill Viola. Courtesy Bill Viola Studio and Blain|Southern, London FLORENCE---Video art and the Renaissance don’t normally go hand in hand, but in Bill Viola’s work they are inseparable. Born in 1951, Viola is part of a generation of artists who grew up with television, although he was one of the first to make videos without dabbling in other art forms beforehand. His highly symbolic, spiritual, and elaborately orchestrated scenes are so popular that he is the medium’s best-known practitioner – a video artist for people who don’t like video art, sniff his detractors, as if that is some kind of bad thing. What is clear from walking around this exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, however, is how Viola’s work rarely resembles video art. ‘Bill Viola: Electronic Renaissance’ is at Palazzo Strozzi , Florence, until 23 July. [ More ]

BBC By BBC Trending The temples of Khajuraho feature a wide variety of erotic sculpture Some social media users in India are seething over a Hindu group's demand to ban a famous ancient book on love and sex in temples which are widely known for their erotic sculptures. The leader of the little-known Bajrang Sena group was outraged at the reading material being hawked inside the world-famous Khajuraho temples. "These temples have religious significance…. How can you allow Kamasutra to be sold in the sacred premises?" Jyoti Agarwal told the Hindustan Times . "What sort of moral values are we passing on to our younger generation?" The group asked the police to step in, arguing that selling the book in a holy place is an affront to Indian culture. [ More ]

ALETEIA By Philip Kosloski Churches inspire young people to become Christian, a study suggests CREDIT: PA/DAVID DAVIES According to a new study by the British-based Christian youth organization Hope Revolution Partnership , tried and true tools of evangelization, such as the church building itself, are very influential in a young person’s conversion to Christianity. The Telegraph revealed the results of the study, stating that, “Around 13 percent of teenagers said that they decided to become a Christian after a visit to a church or cathedral.” Even more surprising was the report’s finding that the “influence of a church building was more significant than attending a youth group, going to a wedding, or speaking to other Christians about their faith.” [ More ]

THE GUARDIAN Using photography to explore his own bicultural experiences as a third generation British-Yemeni, Omar Khaleel addresses growing up straddling both British and Arab cultures Photograph: Truman Brewery LONDON---From rural childhoods to bicultural identities, the next generation of artists are exhibiting their work at Free Range – one of the largest graduate art shows in the UK. At the Old Truman Brewery , London, until July 17. Dray Walk Gallery is located in the center of Truman Brewery’s west side, with a key position on the pedestrianised lane Dray Walk and Ely’s yard Entrance from the city. [ More ]

THE JAKARTA POST By Ade Rizal Up close: A batik-inspired Quran is being created by a group of batik craftspeople in Laweyan, Surakarta, in Central Java. (JP/Ade Rizal) SURAKATA---Sarwono was gently stroking hot wax from a canting (spouted pot) on a sheet of white cloth measuring 90 cm by 70 cm. “Unless [the wax] fully penetrates, the batik designs won’t appear perfectly,” he said while working at the Batik Mahkota Workshop in Laweyan village, a tourist zone in Surakarta, Central Java, known for producing batik. The 62-year-old, better known as Nono, was not drawing the traditional batik motifs of Surakarta or other regions of Java. Instead, he was completing a batik-inspired Quran that is being created by a group of batik craftspeople based in Laweyan. Verse by verse, he scribed the Islamic holy book using the Kudus khat (calligraphy) system, which is more difficult than the Uthmani method. [ More ]

JEWISH JOURNAL By Ayala Or-El His first exhibition of mandalas in Los Angeles is on display Thursdays through Saturdays through July 1 at 929 E. Second St. in the Arts District. LOS ANGELES---Not much had changed since Rafael “Rafi” Anteby was a little boy who played in the sand. Sometimes his immaculate apartment looks like a big sandbox with dozens of bowls filled with colorful sands, which he collects from around the world: purple from Big Sur and Idaho, black and green from Hawaii, red and yellow from Israel, golden brown from Myanmar. Anteby, 52, who was born in Israel, is a Los Angeles artist who uses sand of different colors to make Hindu and Buddhist ritual symbols known as mandalas. His first exhibition of mandalas in Los Angeles is on display Thursdays through Saturdays through July 1 at 929 E. Second St. in the Arts District. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS "Contemporary Art and the Church: A Conversation Between Two Worlds," W. David O. Taylor and Taylor Worley, eds. Christians In the Visual Arts (CIVA) concluded its biennial conference with a gift to all the attendees, a copy of "Contemporary Art and the Church: A Conversation Between Two Worlds". This book - the third volume in IVP Academic's Studies in Theology and the Arts series - was edited by David Taylor and Taylor Worley. The book is a collection of essays and reflections presented by artists, theologians, and church leaders at the 2015 CIVA Biennial Conference, this volume seeks to explore misperceptions, create hospitable space to learn from each other, and imagine the possibility of a renewed and mutually fruitful relationship for the common good of both the Church and the contemporary world. This is the third in IVP’s Studies in Theology and the Arts series. [ Purchase ]

ARTDAILY Tanner,Henry Ossawa (1859-1937) The resurrection of Lazarus, 1896 Canvas, 95 x 215 cm R.F. 1980-173 Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859 - May 25, 1937) was an African American artist. He was the first African American painter to gain international acclaim. In this image: Michael Gibbons, left, Jason Kourkonis, David Bruce, and Mark Knobelsdorf, preparators with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, hang Henry Ossawa Tanner's painting the Resurrection of Lazarus after it arrived from Paris' Musee d'Orsay at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 in Philadelphia.

ALETEIA By Elizabeth Lev "The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa" (1647–52) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini; Dimensions: Life-size; Location: Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome The Protestants saw mystic experience as a quiet, peaceful assurance, while the Catholics had more flair for the dramatic. If there were any category of Catholics that the Protestant reformers viewed with maximum skepticism it was those mystics who experienced visions of divine union. It wasn’t that the Protestants eschewed closeness to Christ through prayer—but they recoiled at the “excesses” of the Catholic Church. The Protestants saw mystic experience as a quiet, peaceful assurance, while the Catholics had more flair for the dramatic. Literature, art and music tended to portray mystical transport as intense and fleeting, an overwhelming foretaste of the peace and joy that is to come. [ More ]

RELIGION NEWS SERVICE The Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, Britain. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons/Salim Fadhley LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) – A van plowed into worshippers near a London mosque in the early hours of Monday, injuring 10 people, two of them seriously, in what Prime Minister Theresa May said was a “sickening” terrorist attack on Muslims. The vehicle swerved into a group of mainly North and West African people shortly after midnight as they left prayers at the Muslim Welfare House and the nearby Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, one of the biggest in Britain. The driver, a 47-year-old white man, was grabbed at the scene by locals and pinned down until police arrived. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Prayer nut with The Nativity and The Adoration of the Magi, Adam Dircksz. and workshop, c. 1510 - c. 1525 AMSTERDAM---They are among the most sophisticated and mysterious works of Dutch art: the masterfully carved figurines, miniature shrines, coffins, skulls and prayer nuts from the 16th century. For centuries people have been fascinated by Dutch micro-carvings from the late Middle Ages, and no fewer than 60 of them from around the world will be on display during the 'Small Wonders' exhibition. " Small Wonders " will run from Saturday, 17 June to Sunday, 17 September 2017 in the Philips Wing of the Rijksmuseum. The exhibition was previously shown at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Canada) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA).

ALETEIA By Deacon Greg Kandra “Mary, Mother of Jesus” mosque in Abu Dhabi A mosque in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital, has been renamed “Mary, Mother of Jesus.” Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi crown prince and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces, ordered that the mosque be renamed to “consolidate bonds of humanity between followers of different religions.” Some context, from my colleague at CNEWA, the Rev. Elias D. Mallon: "Our Lady plays an important role in Islam. She is the virgin mother of Jesus, although with no connotation of the Incarnation as understood by Christians. She is the one who hears God’s word and believes it. And in the Qur’an, she is the focus of Chapter 19. [ More]

BLOUIN | ARTINFO By Nicholas Forrest Juan Pedro López, Saint Matthew (c. 1770). Oil on canvas. 138.4 x 95.9 cm. Denver Art Museum. Promised gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Mateo R. Barnetche Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros ( CPPC ) has made an extraordinarily generous donation of donation of 119 works from its collection of colonial art to five leading institutions committed to the conservation and study of the legacies of art from the colonial and early republican periods in Latin America. CPPC’s colonial art collection was formed with the aim of creating a broad representation of Venezuelan art from the mid-1600s to the mid-1800s. The five institutions to benefit from the donation are: the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Hispanic Society Museum & Library, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Massachusetts; and the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Peru. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By  Gregory  &  Ernest Disney-Britton Anthony van Dyck, Saint Jerome, 1618-1620. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Loan: Willem van der Vorm Foundation. Photo: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam Flemish painter Anthony Van Dyck 's five foot tall "Saint Jerome" hangs in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Painted loosely and boldly, the image portrays a virtuous monk draped in scarlet red, at study with an angel over his shoulder and a lion at his foot. Jerome is best known for translating the New Testament text to Latin and for having drawn a thorn from the paw of a lion who stayed with him for years. Beginning this month, the Rotterdam museum is showing Van Dyck's "Saint Jerome" and 500 other works from their collection in a newly designed display. The painter died in 1641 at age 42, and left behind a generous inheritance for his two daughters, one by his wife and the other by a mistress. On thi...

ARTDAILY Giovanni da Rimini, Virgin and Child with Five Saints. Probably about 1300-05. Egg tempera on panel, 49 × 39 cm. Pinacoteca Comunale di Faenza © IBACN / Emilia-Romagna. LONDON---This summer visitors to the National Gallery can discover Giovanni da Rimini’s exquisite late Medieval painting , Scenes from the Lives of the Virgin and Other Saints. Giovanni’s panel, which is more than seven hundred years old, beautifully unites the tradition of late Byzantine icons with a new, more sophisticated style of painting, rich in narrative detail. The exhibition brings together, for the first time in the UK, the three easel paintings unanimously attributed to Giovanni da Rimini: 'Scenes from the Lives of the Virgin and Other Saints' with the very closely related 'Scenes from the Life of Christ' from the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome; and 'The Virgin and Child with Five Saints' from the Pinacoteca Comunale, Faenza, Italy. [ More ]

NYTIMES MAGAZINE  By Emily Spivack Barbara Kasten’s collection of Madonnas appears throughout her home. I’ve had this obsession with Madonnas since I was in high school. Not from a religious standpoint, but from a feminist one. I was at an all-girls Catholic school when I first made a painting of a Madonna, which I still have today. That was when the feminist part of me began to come out. I was interested in female power, and Mary was the ideal way to reflect on that. I probably have 25 cultural representations of Madonna in my collection, which are mostly outsider art. They’re from my travels to Mexico, Lithuania, New Mexico, Turkey. To me, they are about the everyday acceptance of women in places of dignity rather than depictions of women as an art form. [ More ]

HYPERALLERGIC By Christopher Snow Hopkins Installation view of James Turrell: Into the Light in Building 6 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (© James Turrell, photo by Florian Holzherr) NORTH ADAMS, Mass. ---Light can be bright and dull, clear and murky, or velvety and abrasive. In James Turrell’s “Perfectly Clear” (1991), the viewer is subjected to an electromagnetic storm, a cascade of colors: rose, magenta, turquoise. Here, the medium is light, or, rather, the human optical-neurological apparatus that apprehends light. After putting on shoe covers, the viewer is ushered into a two-story space with curved walls and no visual markers (except for other visitors). What follows is a nine-minute-long celestial ballet, with slowly changing colors and 15-second intervals of stroboscopic effects. [ More ]

ARTDAILY Rama returns in victory to Ayodhya, Pahari (Punjab Hills), Kangra, c.1780-1790 © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. CAMBRIDGE---Two exhibitions and a new book have launched at the Fitzwilliam Museum to mark the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence. The displays celebrate Cambridge’s links with Indian culture with examples from the Museum’s world-class holdings of coins and its rarely seen collection of Indian miniature painting. 2017 is the UK-India Year of Culture, a year of events to celebrate UK’s cultural ties with India. The two exhibitions are part of the University of Cambridge Museums’ India Unboxed series, affiliated to the UK/India 2017 program run by the British Council. From Kabul to Kolkata: Highlights of Indian painting in the Fitzwilliam Museum, showcases a selection of Indian miniature paintings and drawings from the 16th to 19th centuries. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Carole P. Kunstadt, Sacred Poem XI, 2015, 24 karat gold leaf, paper, thread, gampi tissue, 7.5 x 8 x1.5in FARMINGTON, CT---In celebration of the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival’s 25th Anniversary, the historic Libraries will be transformed into a contemporary sculpture gallery to showcase Boundless: Altered Books in Contemporary Art, guest-curated by Carole Kunstadt, a graduate of the Hartford Art School. Installed among the many rare first editions and early volumes in the Pope family’s personal library, it is an exhibition of altered books by three contemporary artists: Carole P. Kunstadt , Chris Perry and Erin Walrath. Kunstadt dissects, stitches, weaves and gilds book leaves savoring the aged qualities of the paper and text while reminding one of the personal associations to knowledge and history, and the passage and compression of time. Hill-Stead Museum : " Boundless: Altered Books in Contemporary Art " (June 16 – September 4, 2017); 35 Mountain R...

EURONEWS. By Seamus Kearney A new light is being shone on centuries-old pieces of art from the Middle East at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum is hosting 10-minute gallery talks focusing on Islamic art, described by staff as “counter discussions” about regions in the news for negative reasons. The tours focus on the seven countries that are on President Trump’s contested list for a travel ban. The head of the Islamic art department at the museum, Sheila Canby, said: “Many ideas about science, mathematics, and other things come from scientists in the medieval period in the Middle East. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Jacey Fortin PHOENIX---Delegates of the Southern Baptist Convention, an evangelical church fellowship with about 15 million members across the United States, condemned white supremacists and the “alt-right” in a resolution on Wednesday, one day after the delegates provoked a backlash by turning down a more harshly worded resolution . The denomination’s annual meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Phoenix attracted about 5,000 delegates and pastors from across the country. Mr. Moore said that delegates recognized “a special responsibility to be aware of racial injustice because the S.B.C. was founded on the basis of a defense of slaveholding.” The Southern Baptist Convention was founded in 1845 when it split from Baptists in the North over slavery. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES Show Us Your Walls By Kathryn Shattuck The author and editor Colin Harrison is fascinated with old maps of New York City, and about 45 of them line the walls of his brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times NEW YORK---It would be tempting to confuse the writer Colin Harrison with Paul Reeves, the protagonist in his new crime thriller, “ You Belong to Me .” Like Reeves, Mr. Harrison is a map obsessive with a passion for New York City and a longing for things lost, or soon to be. Unlike Reeves, whose imaginary Manhattan apartment boasts a large display gallery, Mr. Harrison’s collection lines four stories of his 1890s brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn. How did he start his collection? "Probably about 20 years ago I walked into a frame shop and there was a map of Manhattan, and I bought it. And that was the beginning of the end." [ More ]

ART AGENDA Robert Combas, Crucifix crucified, 2008–16. Installation, variable dimension. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Caroline Smulders. Photo: Nina Lieska. CAPETOWN, S. Africa---Cape Town Art Fair 2018 will return to the Cape Town International Convention Centre from February 16 to 18. Returning to the Fair is Unframed, Editions, Magazines & Publications and Past/Modern, with Tomorrows/Today led once again by Fair Curator Tumelo Mosaka and opened up to gallery proposals of solo presentations by emerging artists from around the world. CTAF2018 will involve closer cultural partnerships with institutions, and a focused programme of events, giving the ever-increasing number of international collectors and exhibitors insight into Cape Town as a creative capital. For more information and to apply to CTAF2018, see our website . [ More ]

ARTDAILY Anthony van Dyck, Saint Jerome , 1618-1620. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen , Rotterdam. Loan: Willem van der Vorm Foundation. Photo: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam ROTTERDAM---From 10 June Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s permanent collection is being shown in a totally new series of displays. Carel Blotkamp, artist and emeritus professor of the history of art at the VU University in Amsterdam, has conceived a new display that he hopes will seduce visitors into spending more time with the works of art. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen has a collection of more than 145,000 objects dating from c.1300 to the present day, including numerous works by world-renowned artists. However, only 8 per cent of the collection is on display and the displays have remained the same for the past five years. That all changed on 10 June when the museum unveiled its new displays selected by guest curator Carel Blotkamp, featuring more than 500 artworks in a new configuration that will excite both regul...

ARTDAILY The Novgorod School, 16th century: Large Russian church icon with a depiction of the Descent from the Cross. Hammer price: DKK 4.6 million (€ 620,000 / € 806,000 including buyer's premium). COPENHAGEN---This summer's international auction at Bruun Rasmussen in Copenhagen has just ended with an iconic auction of Russian art. With a world record on Russian icons and a total hammer price of DKK 27.6 million (€ 3.7 million / € 4.8 million including buyer's premium), auction history was made on Friday 9th June. The Russian icons from Zeiner-Henriksen’s collection were a particular surprise, with several impressive million-kroner hammer prices. A church icon from the 16th century of Christ being taken down from the cross was sold for DKK 4.6 million (€ 620,000 / € 806,000 including buyer's premium), which is a World auction record,” says Martin Hans Borg, expert on Russian art at Bruun Rasmussen. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Suzy Hansen Cigdem Mosque, Kecioren, Ankara, photographed in 2017. Credit Norman Behrendt TURKEY---In Turkey, mosques have a dual spiritual and economic purpose. This surprised me when I first moved to the country more than a decade ago. But much of typical Turkish life has been transformed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, especially when it comes to Islam and profit. Many of Turkey’s 75,000 mosques were historically built and maintained by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, or Diyanet, according to a community’s needs for prayer space. Between 2006 and 2009 — Erdogan became prime minister in 2002 — 9,000 additional mosques went up throughout Turkey. Like his bridges, airports, pastel-pastiche apartment towers and luxury shopping malls, Erdogan’s mosques have themselves become engines of national economic growth, as well as symbols of his New Turkey. [ More ]

HYPERALLERGIC By Joseph Nechvatal Lucio Fontana, “Crocifisso” (1955–57), polychrome ceramics, 17 x 14 x 4 1/3 in (© Fondazione Lucio Fontana, by SIAE 2017, courtesy Galerie Karsten Greve Cologne, Paris, St Moritz; photo by Saša Fuis, Cologne) PARIS---The visual experience transmitted by Lucio Fontana’s ceramic crosses, currently on view at Galerie Karsten Greve , evokes hallucinogenic transmutation and transubstantiation. The loss of clarity, the submersion, the writhing attempt at escape of the oozing Christ figures in all of them marks their contemplative power. In that respect, they are spiritually orgasmic. Acid’s sacred, expanding visions — especially those tied to inward contemplation — resonate with Fontana’s 1951 “ Manifesto tecnico dello spazialismo ” (or “Technical Manifesto of Spatialism”). [ More ]

ARTDAILY AJ Fosik, The Abyss Stares Back, 2011. Wood, paint and nails, 39 × 27 × 14 in. Collection of Ken and Lauren Golden. Photograph by Max Yawney. SACRAMENTO, CA.- This June, the Crocker Art Museum brings to Sacramento "Turn the Page: The First Ten Years of Hi-Fructose," a one-of-a-kind exhibition of works by artists who have been prominently featured in the best-selling contemporary art magazine Hi-Fructose. In 2005, husband-and-wife artists Daniel “Attaboy” Seifert and Annie Owens set out to increase the public’s access to the works of many emerging, underground, and “lowbrow” artists they enjoyed, and founded the pioneering magazine Hi-Fructose. This summer, the Crocker Art Museum is showing works by 51 of the foremost “New Contemporary” artists to be featured in Hi-Fructose. [ More ]