Disney-Britton

BLOUIN ARTINFO Detail, The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room from the Alice S. Kandell Collection Photograph: 2010 Objects: Tibet, China, and Mongolia, 13th–20th century Mixed media Gifts and promised gifts from the Alice S. Kandell Collection (Courtesy: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery) WASH., DC---The exhibition titled “Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice across Asia” is currently on view at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C. The show highlights the role and function of art and place as central to Buddhist understanding and teachings. The selections of works on display are drawn from the Freer and Sackler collections of Buddhist art. It features more than 250 pieces from India to Indonesia and Afghanistan to Japan coupled with two immersive environments and integrated digital platforms. “Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice across Asia” narrate the stories of Buddhist objects and artworks. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Noah Weiland The synagogue reopened in 2004 after serving as a Methodist church and nearly becoming a night club. Credit Jared Soares for The New York Times WASHINGTON, DC---On a wet night in August, in a bare room in the basement of the Sixth and I synagogue, one of Washington’s oldest, the comedian Joe Mande was preparing backstage for his stand-up set. While other Jewish organizations have tried a culture-centric model — the 92nd Street Y in New York is perhaps the best-known example — Sixth and I’s blend of the religious and the artistic has become a local template, a convergence of intellectual and spiritual currents that has helped shape the character of Judaism in Washington. At a time when young Jews see synagogue affiliations as less of a social obligation, Sixth and I’s nonmembership, ticketed model has given them a way to be spiritually self-structured, to come and go, to pay by the activity.[ More ]

RELIGION NEWS SERVICE Detail from Meg Hitchcock's "Throne: The Book of Revelation." 2012. Permission by Meg Hitchcock In 2015, Montreal-based artist Guy Laramée placed a large-format Bible from the 19th century upright with the spine open. Then, using a power grinder, he carved a landscape into the pages and painted along the curvatures, evoking the space of a cave whittled into a sheer mountainside. It is a beautiful summoning of desert spaces, conjuring the place of the biblical prophets. It is, however, an unusual treatment of the Good Book. And it is one that would never find its way to the $500 million Museum of the Bible, opening Friday (Nov. 17) in Washington, D.C. That museum is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of the sacred text through the ages. Laramée, along with a number of contemporary artists, has been working with books not as muse, but as medium. You could call these artists book lovers, but only in the way that you could call Michelang...

CRUX By Christopher White Michelangelo's "The Torment of Saint Anthony" (1487–88). Oil and tempera on wood; 18 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. (47 x 34.9 cm). Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas  NEW YORK CITY---Finished works by the great Michelangelo Buonarroti - the Sistine Chapel, the Pietà, the statue of David - continue to captivate millions of viewers each year. But before the Renaissance genius picked up his brush or chisel, he began with chalk to sketch what would become some of the world’s most enduring art masterpieces. Now, these drawings are on full view in a momentous new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer” runs through February 12th and undoubtedly will be the most comprehensive collection of the artist’s work to be on display this side of Europe for many decades to come. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Jason Farago A page of a 17th-century prayer book in Syriac and Arabic.CreditCollection Antoine Maamari, Beyrouth PARIS — Behind the famous dilating windows Jean Nouvel designed for its Seine-side home, the Institut du Monde Arabe has presented a string of recent shows that have deepened and diversified France’s understanding of Islam. But Islam is not the only religion in the Arab world, and this autumn the institute, which celebrates its 30th birthday this month, has turned its attention to another faith. “ Eastern Christians: 2,000 Years of History, ” a vital, thorough, and sometimes astonishingly gorgeous exhibition, explores the birth and transmission of Christianity from Jesus’ death to the present day. [ More ]

ARTNEWS By Maximilíano Durón and Alex Greenberger Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz in front of Sterling Ruby’s Burning Landscape, 2016. CARLOS AND ROSA DE LA CRUZ For every sought-after work in a gallery or bidding war at auction, there’s a winner: the collector who walks away with the work. The art world has often maintained an aura of secrecy around who might have acquired hotly contested offerings, with news passed down through the grapevine before it gets reported (if it gets reported at all). Over the summer, we asked everyone on the ARTnews “ Top 200 Collectors ” list if there was ever an artwork that slipped through their hands—one that got away. The answers were revealing. Some collectors recalled works that still haunt them years later, while others mentioned works they passed over because the timing just wasn’t quite right.  [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Farah Nayeri “Fishermen Upon a Lee-Shore, in Squally Weather (Andielo Pierre)” (2017), by Mr. Wiley.CreditStephen Friedman Gallery, London LONDON---The London exhibition — featuring nine maritime paintings and a three-screen film — is a departure from the colorful portraiture that is now in the collections of virtually every major museum in the United States (and was featured in the TV series, “Empire”). The new paintings name-check works by J.M.W. Turner, Winslow Homer and Hieronymus Bosch in their titles. But the visual similarity with any forerunners is less overt than in the portraits that made Mr. Wiley famous. Pictured on canvas in the maritime paintings are real-life Haitians whose names are also included in the works’ titles. [ More ]

APOLLO MAGAZINE By Gargi Gupta Two exquisite Thanjavur paintings (Left to Right) Navnita Krishna and Umamaheshvara Nandi, in Delhi-based architect Kuldip Singh’s collection DELHI, India---Most Delhiwallahs know Kuldip Singh as the architect of the majestic funnel-shaped Palika Kendra building opposite Jantar Mantar, and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) office in Siri Fort – sometimes called the 'pyjama building' by irreverent auto-wallahs for its two-winged shape. Those more acquainted with architecture will know that Singh is foremost among a band of modernist architects and urban planners – Charles Correa, Raj Rewal, BV Doshi – whose iconic, spare buildings, often clad in exposed concrete, changed the landscape of our cities in the 1960s and 1970s. Amruta Kalasha, an exhibition of 200-odd vintage Thanjavur paintings at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) in Delhi, shows a very different facet of Singh's personality — that of an art collector. [ More ]

DESERET NEWS By Jeremy Hale An image scattered by the kaleidoscope at the "We Revolve Ceaseless" exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. PROVO — The “We Revolve Ceaseless” exhibit at Brigham Young University's Museum of Art is a reflective exhibit about the role of time and each person's place in the universe, all portrayed through a 12-foot-long kaleidoscope. Aundrea Frahm , a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and BYU, said her inspiration for the kaleidoscope came from a Buddhist text. “It talked about how we as humans revolve ceaselessly in life,” Frahm said. “It talked about seasons and how life has seasons. That was the basic concept of the work.” To execute the project, Frahm gathered a small team of sculpture, mechanical engineering and manufacturing engineering students at BYU to craft and assemble the kaleidoscope and center it in the exhibit. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Still shot from video "Balfour at 100" by Ruth Schreiber November 2017 marks the centennial of Britain’s Balfour Declaration , the first international recognition of a Jewish homeland of Isreal. As part of the celebration, an exhibition is being organized at the Knesset (Parliament) of Israel in Jerusalem, and at the Jewish Museum Manchester, UK. According to video artist  Ruth Schreiber , her  vinstallation, "Balfour at 100" was chosen for exhibition. Schreiber has exhibited in Israel, Europe, and North America. Her work as an artist includes the creation of sculptures, paintings, photography, installation pieces, and video art.

APOLLO MAGAZINE Saint Jerome (c. 1605–06), Caravaggio. Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo–Galleria Borghese LOS ANGELES--- Caravaggio developed a boldly naturalistic style that employed striking theatrical compositions and emphasized the humanity of his protagonists. The three paintings presented in this exhibition exemplify the crucial stages in Caravaggio’s short but intense career. Boy with a Basket of Fruit (c. 1593–94) represents the beginning of the artist’s career when he moved to Rome and attracted attention for his realistic genre scenes. Saint Jerome (c. 1605) portrays the saint in the dramatic lighting that Caravaggio made famous. Find out more about the Caravaggio exhibition from the Getty Center’s website . [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By  Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton Carlo Crivelli 's "Pietà" (1476) | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC Carlo Crivelli's " Pietà ” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC is an emotionally charged depiction of a mother's rage, one of the five stages of grief. Pieta's are an artistic tradition dating back to the Middle Ages that depict the mourning Virgin Mary holding her crucified son. While this moment is not specifically cited in the Bible, it is inspired by the events in John 19:25-27 , and it is a tradition that continues today in a series of projects by photographer Kelvin Burzon . In contrast to Crivelli's moment of rage, Burzon's " Pietà ," captures the stage of "despair" as he depicts the Virgin staring despondently back at the viewer. If you follow scenes from the Passion of Christ, we recommend checking out Kelvin Burzon's inspiring photographs .

THE NEW YORK TIMES Show Us Your Walls By Roslyn Sulcas Chris von Christierson, with “Tu Lugar” (“Your Place”), by Juan Roberto Diago Durruthy, part of the large collection of Afro-Cuban art he has on display in his London home. Credit Tom Jamieson for The New York Times LONDON, UK---In November 2007, Chris von Christierson’s wife, Marina, decided to take him to Cuba for his 60th birthday. Lucha and Orlando Hernández were coming to fetch them. He explained to his guests that he was particularly interested in the protest art of Cuba in the 1990s, when the government relaxed some control over artists. “For the first time, they were able to express religious feeling, which had been banned in an atheist system,” Mr. von Christierson said. They shook hands on a deal: Mr. Hernández would source the work, and Mr. von Christierson would pay for it. Today, the collection, which includes drawings, paintings, photography, sculpture, video and textiles, consists of around 450 works by 41 art...

ARTDAILY Custot Gallery Dubai, Ian Davenport Cascade Exhibiton View. © Pia Torelli 2017. DUBAI--- Custot Gallery is presenting Ian Davenport’s first solo exhibition in Dubai, ‘Cascade’. The exhibition presents sixteen new works, which develop Davenport’s rigorous investigation into colour relationships and the painting process. Davenport’s meticulous painting technique plays with timing and chance, allowing carefully selected chromatic palettes to flow down to the bottom of the painting. This emphasises the materiality and liquidity of his work. In two new large-scale works, ‘Mirrored Place’ (2017) and ‘Cobalt Blue Water’ (2017), Davenport has taken this technique one step further, by co-opting the intricate puddled section at the bottom of the painting, as a sculptural element. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Pietà | Spanish | The Met - The Metropolitan Museum of Art NEW YORK---The representation of the mourning Virgin holding her son's crucified body in her lap was a popular devotional image throughout the Catholic world, echoing the even more beloved depiction of the Madonna and Child in more joyful times. In this composition, Mary's sorrowful gesture relates the theme to the more elaborate portrayal of the Lamentation at the foot of the cross. So, too, does the corpselike rigidity of Christ's torso, a pose typical of the late fifteenth century. The use of alabaster was particularly characteristic of architectural and figural sculpture in Catalonia and Aragon, but this group has not yet been conclusively linked to the work of any artist of the region. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 535 [ More ]

ARTDAILY Visitors view an oil painting of Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment' by Marcello Venusti at the new Michelangelo exhibit titled 'Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 13, 2017 in New York City. The exhibit opened on Monday to the public and will run through February 12, 2018. Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP. NEW YORK---Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from November 13, 2017, through February 12, 2018, presents a stunning range and number of works by the artist: 133 of his drawings, 3 of his marble sculptures, his earliest painting, and his wood architectural model for a chapel vault. A substantial body of complementary works by his teachers, associates, pupils, and artists who were influenced by him or who worked in collaboration with him are also being displayed for comparison and context. A towering genius in the history of Western art,...

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Pietà with Donors, ca. 1515. French. Limestone, traces of polychromy. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1916 (16.31.1). NEW YORK---Here, Mary's grief over Christ's sacrifice is communicated through simple gestures. At the center, the Virgin Mary crosses her arms upon her chest and bows her head over her son's dead body. Her downward gaze throws her face into shadow, accentuating her sorrow (pietà in Italian). Surprisingly, the scene is witnessed by two individualized figures, whose clothing identifies them as a knight and a bishop. These are the donors, Pons de Gontaut and his brother Armand, Bishop of Sarlat, who commissioned this sculpture for their family funerary chapel. On the left, Armand cradles Christ's head in his outstretched hands, making him into a direct participant in the sacred past. On the right, his brother, clasps his hands and gazes somberly on the scene. Through the sculpture, the brothers ass...

ARTDAILY Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), Germany, Adam and Eve, 1504, engraving, Bequest of Herbert Greer French, 1943.193. CINCINNATI---Explore a 500-year-old revolution in printmaking technology at the Cincinnati Art Museum’s free special exhibition Albrecht Dürer: The Age of Reformation and Renaissance, on view November 17, 2017–February 11, 2018. The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of several local arts organizations who will commemorate 500 years since Martin Luther issued his 95 theses in 1517, which triggered enormous theological, political and cultural changes throughout Europe. The exhibition features an extensive display of works from Cincinnati Art Museum’s permanent collection, plus works on loan from other museums and collectors, totaling more than 140 pieces by Dürer and his contemporaries. [ More ]

THE GUARDIAN By Steve Dow Liam Benson’s The Terrorist – part of a triptych of self-portraits intended to feminise masculine religious extremism. Photograph: Liam Benson/Bathurst Regional Art Gallery SYDNEY---The Sadness series is part of The Unflinching Gaze , curated by Perram and now showing at Bathurst Regional Gallery : an extraordinary assemblage of provocative photographs from Australia and overseas, interrogating and celebrating the male figure, and privileging the perspective of same-sex attraction. On the same wall, a triptych of self-portraits by Australia’s Liam Benson show the photo artist playing “crusader”, “executioner” and “terrorist”. In each photo, he wears a see-through, embroidered hood intended to feminise masculine religious extremism. There is a thematic connection between these clear examples of hate carried out under the guise of religion and state authoritarianism, and Yang’s Sadness series depicting a lover’s slow death from Aids-related causes. [ More ...

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Pietà | Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux | The Met - The Metropolitan Museum of Art NEW YORK--- Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's  "Pietà" demonstrates an enduring admiration for the plangent heroism of Michelangelo, evinced earlier in the famous Ugolino and his Sons, conceived during his study years in Rome, of which the Metropolitan owns the marble finished in 1867. The government of Napoleon III kept Carpeaux busy with official projects, involving decorative sculpture and portraiture, but it is clear from the evidence of the private moments that he occasionally seized to sketch sacred subjects, as here, that he would have been one of the most powerful of all religious artists had he been freer to exercise this repertory. Mounding the clay pellets and pressing them into shape in mere seconds, his entire attention is on the Virgin Mary's maternal embrace, to the virtual exclusion of Christ's legs. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 552 [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Joseph Griffith's "The First Thanksgiving" (2013) Virginia-based artist Joseph Griffith is consumed by the act of methodically blending the strange, the contemporary, and religious references into displays of visual delight. Drawing upon the influence of masters like Van Eyck, Trumbull, and Van der Helst, the inspired works of Joseph Griffith are also derived from his odd dreams. His work has been described as postmodern, surreal, and lowbrow. His painting "The First Thanksgiving" is dramatic contrast to traditionalist “ The First Thanksgiving 1621 ,” by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. We think you will agree that it's different from most all  Thanksgiving paintings ! His studio is lined with his original Nintendo collection, various fossils, arcade machines, and inspirational art from other artists.

CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS EUGENIO CARMI 2000 60 x 60 x 3,5 cm Mixed media on wood and fabric CASALE MONFERRATO, Italy – It’s always Chanukah in this picturesque town in northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Jews have lived in Casale Monferrato for more than 500 years, with the community reaching its peak of 850 members at about the time Jews here were granted civil rights in 1848. The town still boasts one of Italy’s most ornate synagogues, a rococo gem that dates to the 16th century. These days, only two Jewish families live in Casale. The synagogue, which is part of a larger museum complex, is now a major tourist attraction – and not only because of its opulent sanctuary with huge chandeliers, colorfully painted walls and lots of gilding. The former women’s section has been transformed into a Judaica and Jewish history museum. And the synagogue’s basement, formerly a matzah bakery, is now home to the Museum of Lights . [ More ]

ARTDAILY Saint Nicholas, 19th c., The Edward and Joan Simpson Collection. Courtesy Museum of Russian Icons. CLINTON, MA---The Museum of Russian Icons has announced that Boston area collectors Edward and Joan Simpson have donated their exceptional collection of 18th and 19th century Russian icons and sacred artifacts to the Museum–a donation that will be the largest and most valuable single gift since founder Gordon B. Lankton established the Museum in 2006. The only museum in the US dedicated to Russian icons, the Museum of Russian Icons has the largest collection of icons outside of Russia.... Whereas Gordon Lankton was primarily attracted to the traditional Old Believer style in icons produced from the 15th through 18th centuries that are often characterized by the use of metal, the Simpsons’ collection contains 18th and 19th century icons more openly influenced by European religious art. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Pietà (Vesperbild) | German | The Cloisters - The Metropolitan Museum of Art This German "Pietà (Vesperbild)" depicts the Virgin mourning over her son. This is only one in a series of Pietà's in the collection of the Metroplitcan Museum of Art. This depiction became a popular devotional subject in the later Middle Ages. Rigid in death, Christ's body bears the marks of his Passion. His small scale may reflect the writings of German mystics, who believed that the Virgin, in the agony of her grief, imagined she was holding Christ as a baby once again in her arms. On view at The Met Cloisters in Gallery 16 [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Cat. 24. “The Judgment of Solomon.” Miniature pasted on an album leaf. Signed Shaykh Abbasi Iran, Isfahan; 1664–1665 The miniature H: 21.6; W: 14.9 cm COPENHAGEN---The David Collection, Copenhagen has announced the upcoming exhibition " The Human Figure in Islamic Art — Holy Men, Princes, and Commoners " will be on view November 24, 2017 – May 13, 2018. Many people believe that it is not permitted to depict human figures in the Islamic cultural sphere. This is a qualified truth, however. While some Muslims have criticized and even destroyed human depictions, considering them to be idols, others have from the very earliest period commissioned works of art with human figures as an essential element. The exhibition focuses primarily on the different ways in which the human figure has been used in Islamic art, from an ornament and symbol to scientific diagrams, narrative illustrations, and independent paintings or drawings. [ More ]

ARTDAILY Byzantine, Gold Pendant Cross with Openwork Decoration and Sapphires, 6th–early 7th century. 11.3 x 8.0 cm; weight: 64.8 g. Private Collection, North America. TOLEDO--- This fall the Toledo Museum of Art unveils a focused and captivating exhibition of early Christian art. Blending exquisite beauty with historical significance, Glorious Splendor: Treasures of Early Christian Art features approximately 30 masterpieces of Late Roman art from private collections and TMA holdings, most of which have never been exhibited before in a museum. “Glorious Splendor will showcase a dazzling array of Late Roman masterpieces and marks the first time that a special exhibition of work from this period will be offered to Museum visitors,” said TMA Director Brian Kennedy. " Glorious Splendor: Treasures of Early Christian Art ," on view exclusively at TMA from Nov. 18, 2017, through Feb. 18, 2018 [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Pietà (Vesperbild) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art Created as an object of private devotion, Pietà (Vesperbild) is a strikingly pure expression of the Schöne Stil, or Beautiful Style, which emerged at the imperial court in Prague at the end of the fourteenth century and resonated across Europe. The broken, emaciated body of Jesus, naked except for a loincloth, offers a stark contrast to the young face and full figure of his mother as she gently grasps his wrists and cradles his body. The blending of sensuality and pain gives this sculpture immediate emotional appeal. On view at The Met Cloisters in Gallery 10 [ More ]

VIETNAM.NET An exhibition on contemporary Buddhism opened at Vietnam University of Fine Arts in Hoan Kiem District on November 19 HANOI---The event, at Vietnam University of Fine Arts in Hoan Kiem District, opened on November 19 as part of activities welcoming the eighth congress of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) for 2017-2022. It presents an opportunity for Buddhists and artists to show their interest in Buddhist art, while highlighting the achievements of Vietnam Buddhism over the past five years. Most of the art works were made from 2010 – 2017 with different styles and materials, including lacquer, oil painting, silk, acrylic, ink, bronze, wood and glass. The exhibits feature the unique beauty of Buddhist art and inspire people to turn to their origin, he added. The event will run until November 29. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS "Early on I always took to drawing angels and images of Christ" ~ KELVIN BURZON Kelvin Burzon in the studio, 2017, Test for “The Last Judgement"" Paintings of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ are an important element of the Christian experience dating back to the 5th century. Throughout history, artists of different cultures have reimagined the Christ figure in own their image, and this tradition continues today. This year, we've introduced our readers to a dark African Christ by Jamaican painter Christopher Lawrence; a white Jesus in Gethsemane by English artist Michael Cook; and an Asian Christ by gay Filipino-born photographer Kelvin Burzon . This month, his installation, " Noli Me Tangere (touch me not) ” earned him the 2017 Alpha Omega Prize for advancing our religious dialogue. We invite you to learn more about Kelvin Burzon in the interview below:

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS "Pietà" (1476) by Carlo Crivelli at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC This emotionally charged image of the Pietà comes from the uppermost tier of an altarpiece Carlo Crivelli painted for the church of San Domenico at Ascoli Piceno in the Marches. Known as the Demidoff altarpiece (below), it is widely considered Crivelli's masterpiece; the principal panels are in the National Gallery, London. Crivelli's art contrasts ornamental effects with details of extreme realism—such as the wounded hand hanging over the tomb’s edge. The fine seventeenth-century frame was made for it by the Barberini family in Rome whose emblem—the bee—adorns each corner. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 627 [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Gregory Disney-Britton seated at home in Indianapolis holding "Orange Socks" by Hasidic pop artist Rabbi Yitzchok Moully . “In truth, Judaism really asks us to find ourselves within the experience. It’s not about being a carbon copy, said Moully. "It’s asking us to find personal meaning within Judaism.”

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By  Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton Leonardo da Vinci‘s "Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World)," c. 1500 We are excited that this week's world news headlines were dominated by religious art. On Wednesday night, Christie's auctioned Leonardo da Vinci‘s painting " Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World) " for over $450 million. The sale set a world-record. The painting, created around 1500, depicts Jesus raising his right hand in blessing and holding a crystal ball in his left hand that represents the world. On that same night, DaVinci's influence was also center-stage in a work of contemporary art. Andy Warhol‘s mural-sized " Sixty Last Suppers " (1986) sold for $61 million. The silk-screened canvas consists of sixty black-and-white reproductions of Da Vinci's original 15 feet by 29 feet mural. Clearly,  Leonardo da Vinci  was the star of this week.

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Manohla Dargis Movie poster “ Justice League ,” the newest DC Comics superhero jam directed by Zack Snyder, is looser, goosier and certainly more watchable than the last one. The bar could scarcely have been lower given that the previous movie, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” was such an interminable slog. The superhero and villain dynamic is much the same (slayers going to slay, etc.), but there are a few fresh faces now and Wonder Woman has more to do than play backup. The story is a confusion of noise, visual clutter and murderous digital gnats, but every so often a glimmer of life flickers through. It has justice, and it has banter. And while it could have used more hanging out, more breeziness, it is a start. [ More ]

THE ORANGE LEADER Spirit of Bethlehem Porcelain Nativity Exhibit at Stark Museum of Art ORANGE, TX---The Stark Museum of Art celebrates the holiday season with an exhibit Spirit of Bethlehem: The Boehm Porcelain Nativity. The exhibit will be on view in the Museum’s Lobby beginning Tuesday, November 21, 2017 through January 6, 2018. Spirit of Bethlehem tells the Christmas story through the figures of a sixteen-piece Nativity scene in white bisque porcelain. Boehm Porcelain (founded in 1950) produced the set of figurines in the years 1979-1983. Centuries of tradition inspired the artisans of the Boehm studios. The works of Edward Marshall Boehm (1913-1969), founder of Boehm Porcelain, also gave inspiration to the project. Boehm established the firm’s identity with his naturalistically modeled birds in porcelain, but he also made works with religious subjects. [ More ]

HAWAIIAN PUBLIC RADIO By Noe Tanigawa Kosta Kulundzic's "Haleiwa's Saint Sebastian" (48 x 36) HONOLULU---The UH Mānoa Art Department is hosting a live drawing installation every day except Saturday, through November 22nd. Artist, Kosta Kulundzic combines religious and European iconography with everyday scenes from the 21st century. Since moving to Hawai‘i two years ago, Kulundzic has been juxtaposing local and western art imagery with particular ferocity. Painter Kosta Kulundzic paints in a cool, flat, representational style, but his imagery puts 21st century people in quasi-religious scenes with burning crosses, dragons, Waikīkī Beach for example, with the ocean on fire. He was brought up in the Eastern Orthodox Church. [ More ]

THE WASHINGTON POST By Philip Kennicott The $500 million Museum of the Bible opens this weekend. (Essdras M Suarez/for The Washington Post) WASHINGTON, DC---When the Museum of the Bible opens this weekend, it will set a new standard for how this country’s museums fuse entertainment and education. It is rich in content, stocked with historic treasures and carefully plotted to appeal to audiences of all ages. It brings to museum design the sophisticated marketing intelligence of the Oklahoma City-based Green family, who have used a fortune made from the Hobby Lobby retail chain to promote evangelical Christian causes. Their latest venture is a museum that offers a one-stop-shopping cultural experience, with history, art, architecture, theater and music conveniently packaged under one roof. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES Show Us Your Walls By Michael Walker Oren Jacoby with one of the “Shadowman” paintings by Richard Hambleton, the subject of Mr. Jacoby’s new documentary. CreditRichard Hambleton/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Adrienne Grunwald for The New York Times NEW YORK---When the filmmaker Oren Jacoby approached the Conceptual artist Richard Hambleton in 2009 about a documentary that, seven tumultuous years later, would become “Shadowman,” he took to Mr. Hambleton’s studio a “small, kind of semipro video camera” to be as “inconspicuous as possible,” he recalled recently. That turned out to be a good call. Mr. Hambleton, the Canadian-born artist who died on Oct. 29 at 65, and whose eerie black silhouettes slathered on buildings across downtown Manhattan defined the 1980s New York art scene as much as the work of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, was by then living a near-hermetic life, fending off patrons trying to fund a comeback. [ More ]

THE DM ONLINE By Devna Bose SELF / 2FT 2IN X 4FT / OIL AND GLITTER ON CANVAS UNIVERSITY, MS--- Jonathan Kent Adams has always seen life in technicolor. “He saw beauty and color in everything, almost like he had a kaleidoscope view of life,” his mother, Ann, said about him as a child. “His heart was full of love for everyone.” And it still is. Ole Miss graduate Adams sees the beauty and love in the world and pursues it. Over time, Adams learned to express his love through art. One of his first pieces was for a grieving mother. Though Adams is still figuring out how to love himself for who he is, the love he has for his community, his God, his family and his boyfriend is unconditional and unapologetically expressed through his art and his humanity. [ More ]

ITHACA TIMES By Christie Citranglo A place of worship in the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies. The Dalai Lama is photographed in the center of the shrine. (Photo: Christie Citranglo) ITHACA---Since 1992, Ithaca has been the permanent home to a few dozen Tibetans who no longer have a home in their country. The Tibetans who moved to Ithaca arrived because of an agreement with the U.S. Congress to find a home for about 1,000 Tibetans displaced from China’s 1949 invasion. Since then the Ithaca Tibetan Association has brought Tibetan culture to Ithaca through several avenues, including a day of cultural celebration. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, St. Paul’s will fill with people new to Tibetan culture and those who have been involved with the association for years. The church transforms into a center for Tibetan culture and religion, complete with a sand mandala demonstration, Tibetan dancing and Tibetan food. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Robin Pogredin and Scott Reyburn The painting ‘Salvator Mundi’ by Leonardo da Vinci at Christie’s. Credit Drew Angerer/Getty Images NEW YORK---After 19 minutes of dueling, with four bidders on the telephone and one in the room, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” sold on Wednesday night for $450.3 million with fees, shattering the high for any work of art sold at auction. It far surpassed Picasso’s “Women of Algiers,” which fetched $179.4 million at Christie’s in May 2015. The buyer was not immediately disclosed. Earlier, 27,000 people had lined up at pre-auction viewings in Hong Kong, London, San Francisco and New York to glimpse the painting of Christ as “Savior of the World.” “This was a thumping epic triumph of branding and desire over connoisseurship and reality,” said Todd Levin, a New York art adviser. [ More ]

NPR By Tom Gjelten The Museum of the Bible is located near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The entrance is flanked by large bronze doors re-creating the first page of the Book of Genesis. Jennifer Kerrigan/NPR WASH, DC---The newest museum in Washington, D.C., is a $500 million institution dedicated to a single book. The privately funded Museum of the Bible , set to open Nov. 17, will focus on biblical history, biblical stories and the Bible's impact on the world. "We only have one mission statement," says Cary Summers, the museum president, "and that is to engage people with the Bible." Summers and other museum officials insist the institution has no sectarian or evangelical agenda, even though the museum is largely the brainchild of Steve Green, the CEO of Hobby Lobby — the family-owned craft store chain known for supporting conservative Christian causes. [ More ]

THE CHRISTIAN HEADLINES The highly anticipated Museum of the Bible is opening in Washington D.C. this Friday, November 17. CBN News recently spoke with Museum co-founders Steve and Jackie Green about their vision for this project and their hope for what it will accomplish. Steve Green explained that they first began requiring historical, and particularly, biblically significant, artifacts in 2009: "So it's been a fairly rapid journey and as our collection grew, that's when the family really felt the sense of responsibility that we needed to make sure that this dream of a Bible museum became a reality," said Green. The Museum of the Bible promises to be “an innovative, global, educational institution whose purpose is to invite all people to engage with the history, narrative and impact of the Bible,” according to its website. [ More ]

THE JAKARTA POST By Duncan Graham Jesus washes a disciple's feet by Slamet Hendro Kusumo (JP/Erlinawati Graham) SURBAYA---For the record, Edwin Koamesah – a Surabaya engineer, art collector and businessman – is confident that his plan will work. Others have their private doubts and mutter that it’s risky — which is probably correct. The plan is to hold a traveling art exhibition called After Three Days. It will open later this year in the East Java capital Surabaya and feature 20 large canvasses painted by artist Slamet Hendro Kusumo (Henkus) , 58. Now, to the tricky part: Koamesah is a Protestant, Henkus a Muslim and the pictures focus on the crucifixion and what the Bible says happens next.  [ More ]

THE WASHINGTON POST By Holley Simmons The Autumn Harvest Rice Blend, with butternut squash, falafel, za'atar, roasted vegetables and cumin tahini at Manna Restaurant. (Essdras M. Suarez for The Washington Post) WASH, DC---Ellen Kassoff Gray admits that she and her husband, Todd, love getting geeky when it comes to food history. It's one of the reasons the couple was interested in developing dishes for the Museum of the Bible's two dining concepts. Her time in Israel, and their research on the cultural aspects of religion, helped spark Milk & Honey, a casual cafe, and Manna, a cafeteria-style restaurant serving Israeli street food, at the museum. Milk & Honey (Ellen: “What else would a Jewish girl call her cafe?”) is on the museum's mezzanine level. The small 70-seater serves coffee and espresso drinks made with beans from Missouri-based Churchill Coffee, grab-and-go sandwiches ($9-$11), salads ($7-$10), fresh-squeezed juice and pastries. [ More ]

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY By Roberta Mazza • 07/24/2017 This cuneiform tablet is one of the thousands of ancient objects purchased by Hobby Lobby that was seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Photo: United States Department of Justice. On July 5, 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York issued a press release stating that a civil complaint was filed to forfeit thousands of cuneiform tablets and clay bullae originating from modern Iraq and smuggled into the United States through the United Arab Emirates and Israel. As explained in the complaint available online, these artifacts (over 3,500 items) were purchased in the context of amassing what is known as the Green collection—around 40,000 objects of various kinds, from ancient papyri to modern prints of the Bible, assembled by the Green family, owners of the Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. This collection was meant to form the core of what is nowadays known as the Museum of the Bible , which opens in Washi...

THE DESERET NEWS By Sarah Harris Frank McEntire's piece depicts Hindu god Shiva’s Nataraja manifestation, who represents the creation and destruction of the cosmos at BYU's Museum of Art. SALT LAKE CITY — For most contemporary artists, spirituality and religious themes are not go-to subject matters. But, according to Ashlee Whitaker, curator of the BYU Museum of Art exhibition “ The Interpretation Thereof: Contemporary LDS Art and Scripture ,” this is just one way that the local art community breaks the mold. Contemporary religious art in Utah is similarly defined by its breadth of artists, vision, experimentation and personal meaning, according to Rita Wright, director of the Springville Museum of Art. At Springville, the curated invitational “ Sacred Spaces: Archetypes and Symbols ” highlights works exploring archetypes and symbols associated with sacred spaces, while the juried “ 32nd Annual Spiritual and Religious Art of Utah ” displays artists’ reflections of spiritu...

PBS NEWS HOUR By Elizabeth Flock WASH, DC---The Museum of the Bible , the sprawling, 430,000-square-foot tribute to the good book, has been dogged by controversies long before opening day. It’s been criticized for not including enough Jesus , for excluding various religious traditions , and for being evangelical propaganda . The museum is funded by evangelical businessman Steve Green, the head of craft-store giant Hobby Lobby, who has maintained the museum will be nonsectarian. It is slated to oepn next week just blocks from the U.S. Capitol and National Mall. Now that the museum is finally finished (or close to it), its detractors will finally see whether their concerns are justified, and the nearly 50 percent of Americans who regularly turn to the Bible will have an opportunity to learn more. [ More ]

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER By Malak Harb The Blue Qur'an (Arabic: المصحف الأزرق al-Muṣḥaf al-′Azraq) is a late 9th- to early 10th-century Fatimid Tunisian Qur'an manuscript in Kufic calligraphy, probably created in North Africa for the Great Mosque (Mosque of Uqba) of Qairawan. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — As the Louvre Abu Dhabi opens its doors to the public on Saturday, here are five pieces of art out of the 620 on display you should look out for that show the breadth of the new museum: "Monumental Statue with Two Heads" dating to around 6,500 B.C.; Page of the ‘Blue Quran’ from one of the oldest-ever-found Qurans; "Portrait of a Woman, called La Belle Ferronniere" by Leonardo da Vinci; "The Saint-Lazare Station" by Claude Monet, and "Fountain of Light" by Ai Weiwei. [ More ]