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DAILY PRESS By Mark St. John Erickson Detail: "Rest on the Flight into Egypt" Bolivian, 18th century Oil on canvas 32 1/16 x 69 11/16 in. (81.4 x 177 cm) Roberta and Richard Huber Collection Photograph by Graydon Wood, Philadelphia Museum of Art NORFOLK, VA---When European artists came to newly conquered Peru in the late 1500s, their first paintings and sculptures looked like they’d never left the Old World. Just how rarely these old colonial works have been seen in the United States can be gauged by the popular response to “Tesoras/Treasures/Tesouros: The Arts in Latin America 1492-1820,” which drew curious crowds in Los Angeles and Mexico City after opening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2006. “It’s an Incan sensibility working with Old World parts — then putting them together in ways you would have never seen in Europe,” says chief curator Lloyd DeWitt of the Chrysler Museum of Art , where “Highest Heaven: Spanish and Portuguese Colonial Art from the Collecti...

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By  Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton The “Berlin wears a kippa” protest poster for Wednesday evening in front of the Jewish community center in the German capital. The kippa  or yarmulke is the small brimless cap that is worn by observant Jews around the world. It is one of the most conspicuous symbols of Jewishness. This week in Germany, thousands of Berliners of all faiths joined their Jewish brothers in a “ Berlin wears a kippa ” protest. It came one week after a young Jewish man was violently assaulted while wearing his skullcap. Traditionally, Jewish artists use black fabric when creating a kippa, but there does not appear to be a limit to the variety of colors or patterns used. After 70 years, we are still fighting the legacy of the Holocaust , and that is why the kippa is our art of the week.

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Genevieve Valentine Ann Dowd, left, and Elisabeth Moss in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Credit George Kraychyk/Hulu One of the most painful things about the first two episodes of the second season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” is how they play with what we’re willing to take. There’s already some background anxiety simply because the show has gone quite literally off-book. The first season traced most of the major events of the source novel by Margaret Atwood, including the limbo of its final moments. But from here on out, anything can happen, and in Gilead, it’s almost always going to be terrible. Because of that uncertainty, Episodes 1 and 2, both of which debuted Wednesday on Hulu, feel nightmarishly long. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES  By Manhola Dargis Domestic disobedience: from left, Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Nivola in Sebastián Lelio’s new film. Credit Bleecker Street In “ Disobedience ,” the emotions are reserved, the palette muted, the rooms claustrophobic, the storytelling restrained. It’s almost a surprise that Ronit ( Rachel Weisz ), a successful art photographer living in New York, can breathe, given how drained of oxygen this frustrating movie is. It doesn’t seem especially airless at first, when Ronit is seen taking a portrait of a tattooed, bare-chested, much-older gent. Ronit is an uncomplicated exile from patriarchy, and demonstrably ill at ease among the Orthodox. In this, she clearly serves as a proxy for the secular viewer, who in “Disobedience” is invited to intimately witness the agony of faith but not its potentially more unfamiliar, more discomfiting ecstasy. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Jonathan Blaustein Bhandari Baba, a yogi who has been silent over 10 years, meditating in his cave in the foothills above Rishikesh, India. Credit Andy Richter Given the partisan tumult of 2017, many Americans probably feel like they could use a cold shower or a hot bath. In stressful times like these, it can help to find a relaxation regimen, which might explain the popularity of Eastern traditions like tai chi, qigong and yoga. The photographer Andy Richter , a Minnesota native and former ski patrolman, has been devoted to his yoga practice since 2004. In 2012, he set out on a mission to deeply explore yoga, including visiting with many masters. After five years of travel — and likely some sore muscles — during which he photographed everyone from enlightened beings to pregnant teens, his resulting project, “ Serpent in the Wilderness ,” was published by Kehrer Verlag and will be on view in several exhibitions this year. [ More ]

PLAYBILL By Olivia Clement Manhattan Theatre Club celebrates the official Broadway opening of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan starring Tony nominee Condola Rashad (A Doll’s House, Part 2) in the title role, April 25. The revival, helmed by Tony winner Daniel Sullivan, began previews at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre April 3.Set in 15th century France, the play recounts the story of a peasant girl who claimed to hear the voices of saints directing her to help the Dauphin of France drive the English out of the country. While she was successful in battle, she was ultimately betrayed and tried for heresy. Saint Joan , last seen on Broadway in 1993, is playing a limited engagement through June 10. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES  By Jeannette Catsoulis Kholoud Al-Faqih is the subject of "The Judge." Credit Idle Wild Films A conventional portrait of a highly unconventional woman, Erika Cohn’s documentary “ The Judge ” has a worthy subject in Kholoud al-Faqih, the first woman to be appointed, in 2009, to the Middle East’s religious courts. Dealing mainly with family disputes like spousal abuse, divorce and alimony claims, these courts are governed by Islamic law that can vary in interpretation from region to region. Further complicating matters are chauvinistic cultural traditions that can overrule religious dictates, resulting in adjudications that are fraught and combative. Against this backdrop of domestic strife, “The Judge” is, like its namesake, defiantly upbeat. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Ben Kenigsberg Chiwetel Ejiofor as Carlton Pearson in “Come Sunday.” Credit Tina Rowden/Netflix If Ingmar Bergman and Robert Bresson gave us priests who feared the absence of God, “ Come Sunday ” offers the opposite: the story of a real-life evangelical bishop who began preaching that God was welcoming, and that even people who hadn’t been “saved” would be spared from hell. That message might seem innocuous, but it challenged the beliefs of the congregants at his Tulsa megachurch, who regarded the position as heresy. While Marcus Hinchey’s screenplay is occasionally too blunt, “Come Sunday” accords sympathetic moments to all its characters — a strategy that gives this chronicle of religious convictions a conviction of its own. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Melissa Eddy Hundreds of Jews and non-Jews wore skullcaps during a demonstration against anti-Semitism in Berlin on Wednesday. CreditMarkus Schreiber/Associated Press BERLIN — After an attack on a young man wearing a kipa in a trendy Berlin neighborhood, the leader of Germany’s largest Jewish organization urged Jews to wear baseball caps instead. It was just too dangerous, he said, to walk around openly with a kipa or skullcap, a sign of devotion. In a country that has spent 70 years fighting the legacy of the Holocaust, the backlash was swift: We are all kipa wearers. Berliners, including the mayor, and other Jewish groups participated in demonstrations on Wednesday in which people of all faiths donned skullcaps in solidarity. “Today the kipa is a symbol of the Berlin that we would like to have,” Mayor Michael Müller told a crowd of hundreds of people outside the Jewish community center in western Berlin. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Chika Okeke-Agulu A rendering of the National Cathedral of Ghana, designed by the Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye. Credit Adjaye Associates Last month, the president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, unveiled the design for a national cathedral that the government will build in Accra. This is a huge deal. It signals that the country is poised to consolidate the gains of decades of democracy. And the new interdenominational Christian cathedral will inspire ambitious civic architecture projects across the continent that harness the talents of Africa’s emerging artists. The cathedral is the first major project in Africa by the Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye, who was knighted last year for his services to his field. Mr. Adjaye has designed a fabulous church, with chapels, a baptistery and a 5,000-seat auditorium where state religious events will take place. But I’m thankful it’s more than that; it also includes an art gallery, a music school and a bi...

ARTDAILY A Qur'an Palimpsest written on an earlier Coptic Bible probably Egypt, Second century AH/Cica 8th century AD and earlier.  Images courtesy of Christie's. LONDON---Christie's announced the results achieved for the palimpsest of a Quar'an copied onto a Christian text, realizing £596,790 during the Art of the Islamic and Indiana World including Orietable Rugs and Carpets auction. As Lot 1 of the sale, this remarkable manuscript dates to the earlier period of Islam. The leaves from these folios derive from an earlier Coptic manuscript containing passages from the Book of Deuteronomy, which is part of the Torah and the Christian Old Testament. It was very probably produced in Egypt, home to the Coptic community, at the time of the Arab conquest. This appears to be the only recored example of a Qur'an written above a Christian text. [ More ]

ARTDAILY One of the two facing shamsas that mark the beginning of the manuscript, 16.9 cm diameter (max.) without rays and 22.2 cm (max.) with rays. (CB Is 1558, f.2a, detail). LONDON .-  The Islamic Collections of the Chester Beatty Library are amongst the finest in existence, and are internationally renowned for their high quality. The Library’s 16th-century Ruzbihan Qur’an—produced in the city of Shiraz in southwest Iran—is one of the most splendid Islamic manuscripts known. In both material and workmanship it is exquisite: lapis lazuli and gold, the two most expensive pigments available, are used on every page, while the rendering of the decoration is exceptionally fine. This  book  is the most detailed and comprehensive study of any Islamic manuscript—and it is well worthy of such scrutiny.  [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Campbell Robertson A 2017 sculpture by Titus Kaphar, “Doubt,” sat amid accounts of slaves and former slaves at the museum. Credit Audra Melton for The New York Times MONTGOMERY, Ala. — In a plain brown building sits an office run by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, a place for people who have been held accountable for their crimes and duly expressed remorse. Just a few yards up the street lies a different kind of rehabilitation center, for a country that has not been held to nearly the same standard. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice , which Thursday on a six-acre site overlooking the Alabama State Capitol, is dedicated to the victims of American white supremacy. And it demands a reckoning with one of the nation’s least recognized atrocities: the lynching of thousands of black people in a decades-long campaign of racist terror. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Malin Fezehai An actress backstage moments before going onstage. Chinese opera performances are delivered in Teochew, a dialect originating in Southern China. Credit Malin Fezehai/The New York Times BANGKOK — “Anywhere they play in Bangkok, I’ll be there,” said Warin Nithihiranyakul, 73, a dedicated fan of the Sai Yong Hong Chinese Opera troupe for more than 10 years. A devotee of 11 years, Wandee Tengyodwanich, 62, unwraps several small plates of Chinese dough sticks and cake, passing them around to her friends in front of the stage before the show. Performances are free — they are commissioned by shrines in Bangkok and sometimes around the country. “We don’t perform for people, we perform for the gods,” Mr. Tatchai said. They transport the stage with a six-wheel truck and assemble it at each location where they perform. The whole troupe gets paid 20,000 baht (about $640) per night. [ More ]

ARTDAILY Forest Spirit Figure, Nigeria, Ijo culture, Niger Delta, early 19th century, wood, charcoal, chalk, 87 x 19 x 19 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of the Silver Family and the 2018 Collectors Committee, photo courtesy of Sotheby's, Inc. © 2017. LOS ANGELES--- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art  announces the addition of 10 new acquisitions during the museum’s 32nd annual Collectors Committee fundraiser. The annual Collectors Committee Weekend—led by LACMA trustee, Collectors Committee Chair, and Acquisitions Committee Chair Ann Colgin—was a two-day affair, which included curator-led art presentations, private dinners at the homes of major LACMA supporters, and a gala dinner where members voted on artworks to add to the museum’s permanent collection. This year, the 96 voting members raised more than $3.1 million. The 2018 event was generously sponsored by Cartier.  [ More ]

ARTDAILY Bull Lyre constructed with gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, bitumen and wood, ca 2450 BCE at Ur (in modern-day Iraq). Image courtesy of the Penn Museum and Doring Kindersley, Image #250852)) PHILADELPHIA--- Founded in 1887, the  Penn Museum  sent the first United States archaeological expedition to the Middle East—to the ancient Mesopotamian site of Nippur in what was then the Ottoman Empire. More than 130 years and hundreds of international expeditions later, the Museum remains a world leader in Near Eastern archaeology, with a collection of more than 100,000 artifacts; a leading collection of cuneiform tablets bearing early literary, historical, and economic texts; strong Islamic period ethnographic and literary collections; and a rich archive of historic documents, field notes, and photographs—as well as ongoing research projects in the region.  [ More ]

ARTDAILY A view of the destroyed leaning minaret (C), dubbed "the hunchback", or Al-Habda, at the al-Nuri mosque is seen in the old city of Mosul in northern Iraq. Zaid al-Obeidi / AFP. BAGHDAD (AFP).- The United Arab Emirates and Iraq on Monday launched a joint effort to reconstruct Mosul's Great Mosque of al-Nuri and its iconic leaning minaret, ravaged last year during battles to retake the city from jihadists. During the ceremony at Baghdad's National Museum, UAE Culture Minister Noura al-Kaabi said her country would put forward $50.4 million (41.2 million euros) for the task. "The five-year project is not just about rebuilding the mosque, the minaret and the infrastructure, but also about giving hope to young Iraqis," she said. "The millenia-old civilisation must be preserved." The deal was signed by Kaabi and her Iraqi counterpart, Faryad Rawanduzi, in the presence of UNESCO's Iraq representative Louise Haxthausen. [ More ]

PATHEOS By Hemant Mehta Ark Encounter doesn’t publicly release its attendance numbers. It doesn’t have to. But there’s a conflict between what atheists have reported during their own visits (it’s relatively empty when they’ve gone) and what Ken Ham says when he’s bragging online. He always suggests business is booming. Ham brought in 1.1 million people in the first year of the Ark. Last year, we finally got our first hints about actual attendance numbers, and it was all thanks to an ordinance passed by the city of Williamstown, Kentucky. You may recall that officials called for all ticket-taking attractions in the city to pay a surcharge of $0.50 per ticket as a “Safety Fee” to help pay for fire trucks, police cars, etc. — the very things that make the city a safer place for residents and tourists. Now they’re just sinking.[ More ]

THE NEWS & OBSERVER By Jim Diamond Attendees take in Anila Quayyum Agha's "Intersections," at North Carolina Museum of Art's "You Are Here: Light, Color, and Sound Experiences" media preview on April 4, 2018. Juli Leonard jleonard@newsobserver.com RALEIGH, NC--The North Carolina Museum of Art's new exhibit is one of the most popular exhibits in a decade. For one day, you can see it for free. On April 23, admission is free to see the exhibit "You Are Here: Light, Color, and Sound Experiences." While the museum is usually closed on Mondays, the exhibit in the East Building will be open from noon until 8 p.m. The exhibit of video, light, and sound installations has drawn crowds. Works are featured by Bill Viola, James Turrell, Janet Cardiff, Olafur Eliasson and Ragnar Kjartansoon. There are also mixed-media installations by artists Anila Quayyum Agha, Soo Sunny Park, Mickalene Thomas and Heather Gordon of Durham.[ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By  Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton Detail of "Lamentation Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted II" (2016) by Kehinde Wiley Can religious art facilitate more conversations about gender, race, and sex? When we saw Kehinde Wiley’s Lamentations Series this week in a story about stained glass artists , it broke our hearts. It came during an avalanche of conversations about the death of 92-year-old white female, Barbara Bush , and almost none concerning the latest police killing of 26-year-old black male Diante Yarber . This week, we found a number of new shows exploring gender, race, and sex. If you are interested in them too, we recommend,  Breaking the Mold  in Louisville, KY with Kehinde Wiley; Stanley Spencer’s Love on the Moor in the UK; and Karsang Lama’s Divine Feminine in NYC. We need  these conversations, and that is why Kehinde Wiley’s Lamentations Series is our news of the week.

MIAMI HERALD By Jared Gilmour Pope Francis incenses the altar as he celebrates an Epiphany Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. Andrew Medichini AP Researchers call it an exchange model of religion: If people can get what they need from the government (be it health care, education or welfare) they’re less likely to turn to a divine power for help, according to the theory. But are people actually more likely to drop religion in places where governments provide more services and stability? In a new paper , psychology researchers crunched the numbers — and found that better government services were in fact linked to lower levels of strong religious beliefs. Those findings held true in states across the U.S. and in countries around the world, researchers said. [ More ]

ALETEIA By Miriam Diez Bosch santaceciliamontserrat.com One of the most successful contemporary artists, Sean Scully (Dublin b. 1945), has joined his abstract painting to the regal beauty of Romanesque art in the restoration of the church of Santa Cecilia in Montserrat. There, a Scully Institute of Art and Spirituality has been installed as a restored space that places the Romanesque mural paintings, considered medieval “grafitti,” alongside more contemporary abstract works. Regarding this new enterprise that unites art and spirituality, the Montserrat Museum Director, Father Laplana, said, “Art is an activity of the free man who uses his creative fantasy to express his deepest longings for fulfillment.”[ More ]/>

SHELTER ISLAND REPORTER 'The Rabbi’ a sculpture by the late North Fork artist Robert Strimban. GREENPORT, NY--A group of eight Jewish artists have come together in search of a deeper understanding, insight and connection to Judaism through their art in a multimedia exhibit entitled “Who Art Thou?” at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Greenport. Through the guidance of Rabbi Gadi Capela, “Who Art Thou?” is a culmination of monthly presentations, discussions and Jud-aic interpretations at the synagogue. The exhibition honors the late North Fork illustrator and sculptor Robert Strimban and runs through May 20 with an opening reception on Sunday, March 25 from 2 to 5 p.m. It is open to the public, all are welcome. The exhibit will also feature “The Rabbi,” a paper sculpture by Mr. Strimban nearly completed for the show prior to his death, which came suddenly on December 29, 2017 at the end of an illustrious career. [ More ]

MY MODERN MET By Emma Taggart 2018 Alpha Omega Prize Finalist:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XQ5S8WL "Lamentation Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted I" (2016) by Kehinde Wiley. Stained glass in aluminum frame, 97.91H X 72.76W IN. Image courtesy of the artist Though the words “stained glass art” may trigger thoughts of medieval cathedral windows, today’s contemporary artists are proving that the thousand-year-old craft is anything but outdated. In 2011, American sound architect Christopher Janney was commissioned by Miami International Airport to create an interactive sound and light installation featuring stained glass. Brooklyn-based artist Tom Fruin created the monumental Watertower sculpture made from steel and about 1,000 pieces of colorful plexiglas. Having recently painted the former president Barack Obama’s official portrait, New York-based artist Kehinde Wiley’s work reinvents classic religious imagery by celebrating modern-day people of color. Read on for...

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Fahamu Pecou (American), Broken Open (detail), 2016. Acrylic, enamel, spray paint and gold leaf on canvas OKLAHOMA CITY-- Fahamu Pecou is featured in "Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art" at 21c Museum Hotel | Oklahoma City opening on April 26. Superheroes and celebrities, totems and toys: the imagery of manufactured fantasy is reframed in the visual language of historical iconography in this multi-media exploration of popular culture today. The artists featured appropriate images and practices from commerce, science, politics, religion, sports, and technology, to illuminate recent shifts in how culture is being created and consumed, intertwining past and present in transformative new intersections of art and life. The opening reception on April 26 begins at 6 pm with introductory remarks on the exhibition by Chief Curator Alice Gray Stites and a special lecture by featured artist Fahamu Pecou. [ RSVP ]

TRICYCLE By Julia Hirsch Eight Great Bodhisattvas by Karsang Lama | Courtesy of the Dharmapala Thangka Centre NEW YORK--In Vajrayana Buddhism, one of the quickest ways to become a buddha is to imagine yourself as one. But while the classic stories of enlightenment are filled with male protagonists and buddhas, enlightened women are not given nearly the same play, leaving female practitioners with few heroines to emulate. A new exhibition at Tibet House US in Manhattan seeks to even the odds. Divine Feminine: New Masterpieces from Nepal , on view through May 11, 2018, is a series of 50 new works from master Nepalese artist Karsang Lama. Museumgoers may cover a fair amount of ground in a single visit, yet each piece is bursting with such intricate symbolism and iconography that the collection merits a return—if not in this lifetime, then the next. [ More ]

SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE By Margaret Fosmoe SOUTH BEND, IN---With a new program, Indiana Landmarks Inc. will seek to pair arts groups lacking permanent homes in the South Bend, Mishawaka and Elkhart areas with religious congregations that have room to spare. It’s called Art in Sacred Places. Religious buildings often are underused except on weekends and may have interesting space that art groups could use, said Todd Zeiger, northern regional director for Indiana Landmarks. There will be a free one-hour online video information session about the pilot program on Thursday, April 26. Register to join the information session by emailing Zeiger at: tzeiger@indianalandmarks.org. [ More ]

ARTDAILY "Caring" (2018) by Mr Brainwash. Oil On Canvas, 101.9 x 82.55cm. Image courtesy of Maddox Gallery LONDON.- Maddox Gallery , London is presenting new work by world renowned street artist Mr Brainwash. Keep Smiling is the Los Angeles-based artist's first UK exhibition for six years and is being exhibited across Maddox Gallery’s three London locations in Mayfair and Westbourne Grove. A provocative figure in the world of street art, Mr. Brainwash is known for his irreverent brand of appropriation and Keep Smiling is injected with his trademark undercurrent of mischief, humour and optimism. Classical paintings are playfully transformed while ornate mirrors are struck with flashes of neon and vibrant painted messages. Known for his playful take on the historical, the artist mischievously alters traditional impressionist style paintings and historical portraits by adding contemporary iconography. [ More ]

CATHOLIC HERALD By Mgr Timothy Verdon The central event of Christian faith is the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, celebrated with great solemnity every year since the beginning of Christian history in the liturgical feast of Easter. Yet the Resurrection is less frequently represented in Christian art than other subjects, such as the Madonna and Child or the Crucifixion, and it is natural to ask why artists and patrons have been reticent in exploring this fundamental theme. A first obvious answer is that, while all can easily relate to images of a baby in his mother’s arms, or to depictions of human suffering (for we have all been babies and have all known some measure of suffering), resurrection from the dead is difficult to imagine. And the second answer, closely related to the first, is that the Scriptures, which provide most of the information on which Christian art draws, do not in any way describe the Resurrection, but simply announce it. [ More ]

THE GUARDIAN By Harriet Sherwood The Last Supper, 1920, with the naked feet and bony toes of the apostles, is the ‘real gem’ of the Cookham collection. Photograph: © Stanley Spencer Estate/Bridgeman Images, London CAMBRIDGE, UK---Stanley Spencer was one of the most inspirational artists of the 20th century, a visionary who painted real village folk in grandiose biblical scenes, and the creator of the most important artistic first world war memorial in the UK. The 21 works in the new exhibition include Love on the Moor , a subversive celebration of free love which took 18 years to complete. It was first bought by Spencer’s lawyer, Wilfrid Evill, and has been loaned to the gallery by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The Last Supper, painted as a scene in Cookham malt house, was initially bought by Sir Henry Slesser, a judge and socialist. Spencer lived with Slesser and his wife Margaret for over a year, and included the patron in one of his most famous works, The Resurrection...

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Asylum Arts , in collaboration with Repair the World presents Visions: Jewish, Art & Social Change Retreat to take place from July 29 – August 1, 2018 in Detroit. During this intensive four-day training, thirty emerging artists from throughout the United States will explore social justice engagement through a Jewish lens, share their work and stories, as well as learn from artists and activists in the Detroit community. Our programming includes site visits, community building, and the grounding of social justice work in Jewish wisdom and values. They do not need to explicitly explore Jewish topics in their work, but should be open to discussing their Jewish and artistic identities. Applications are now open , and will close April 29, 2018. You can read more about the retreat here. We are happy to answer any questions at info@asylum-arts.org .

ISLAMIC ART MAGAZINE Bosnian Kilim, Foča, 1880 / Photo © Islamic Arts Magazine Exhibited Bosnian kilims are part of the wider collection of oriental carpets from the Balkans, whose production for hundreds of years has been under the influence of Anatolian and Iranian traditions. In addition to the Bosnian, the Sarkoy kilims from Serbia and Bulgaria are also known in the Balkans. The National Museum in Sarajevo has a huge collection of old Bosnian rugs that they collected over the last 150 years. The kilims cover the time range from the middle of the 19th century until the 70s of the 20th century, mostly dating from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. [ More ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By  Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton Romare Bearden's "The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism" (1964). Collection: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966 This Spring,  Romare Bearden's  collage "The Baptism" is on view in a group exhibition at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte, NC. Baptisms and funerals are two of the most important Christian rituals. Greg was baptized at Edgewood United Methodist in Indianapolis, and Ernest and our son Kai were baptized in Cincinnati churches:  Ernest at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church and Kai at Saint Anthony's Catholic Church. The two Cincinnati churches are only two blocks from one another, and this week we'll be visiting both. This Sunday morning, we'll celebrate Kai's 31st birthday during Mass at Saint Anthony’s, and on Tuesday, we will mark the passing of Ernest’s childhood best friend-- Da...

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE By Steve Johnson "Arte Diseno Xicano," now showing at National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, includes work by Enrique Alferez, April 10, 2018. There’s a kind of Zelig quality to the new “Arte Diseno Xicago” exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art . Its subtitle is “Mexican Inspiration from the World's Columbian Exposition to the Civil Rights Era,” and across those 80 years this eye-opening show intersects with so many key figures in Chicago art and the culture more broadly. There is the gifted young sculptor Enrique Alferez — whose audacious, deco-influenced religious figures dominate the show’s opening gallery; the Moses is particularly striking — shown in a circa 1925 photo seated amid the apprentices working at Lorado Taft’s University of Chicago studio. [ More ]

GALION INQUIRER The Ashland exhibit will be titled “Adornment: Art of and About the Bible” and its objective is to expose the public to the beauty that adorns the Bible. ASHLAND, OH — The Museum of the Bible opened its “ Adornment ” exhibit at Ashland University has opened and the exhibit will run through April 14. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will display approximately 40 items, including such things as manuscripts, early printed Bibles, paintings, woodblocks and prints. The display will be located in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center conference rooms and will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each weekday and Saturday from April 2-14. The Student Center is located at the corner of King Road and Claremont Avenue. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Arthur Lubow The art collector Sylvio Perlstein at home in Paris. Works from his vast selection of modern art will be on view in New York this month. (The photographer shot through gels and glass to achieve the effects shown in the portraits.) The collection of Sylvio Perlstein is a relic of a recent time that already feels remote. For more than five decades he has bought avant-garde 20th- and 21st-century art, comprising both iconic masterpieces and recondite curiosities. Mr. Perlstein’s assemblage of paintings, sculptures and photographs fills every wall, niche and corner of his large house on the outskirts of Paris. The collector, who is in his 80s, accumulated his art gradually, like a snail extruding a shell. “Money was not interfering,” Mr. Perlstein said on a recent visit to New York, where he maintains an apartment on the Upper East Side. “It was not a business. In the ’80s, everything was almost free. Today it is all about money.” [ More ]

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER By Tim Funk Tony Zeiss, in front of the Nazareth exhibit at the Museum of the Bible in Washington. Zeiss was named executive director of the museum in Washington in January 2017. He’s leaving the museum next month and returning to Charlotte, where he was president of Central Piedmont Community College for 24 years. Nalisa L. Capers Courtesy of Museum of the Bible Tony Zeiss, who led Central Piedmont Community College for 24 years, is leaving his top post at the new Museum of the Bible in Washington to return to Charlotte. Zeiss became executive director of the then-unfinished museum just after retiring from CPCC in December 2016. The 430,000-square foot museum, a short walk from the U.S. Capitol, opened to the public in November 2017. Zeiss has overseen a staff of 175 full-time staffers, 50 part-timers and 300 volunteers and docents. "My goal was to get the museum open and running smoothly," he told the Observer. "We did it and it's time ...

FLIP.IT By Matthew Whitehouse Takashi Murakami, a.k.a Gero Tan: Noah’s Ark, 2016 © 2016 Takashi Murakami/ Kaikai Ki Co.Ltd. All rights reserved Big day for Takashi Murakami on Monday. Not only did the Japanese artist arrive in Paris for the opening of his latest show at Fondation Louis Vuitton, he also accidently trolled the entire fashion world, posting this Instagram purporting to reveal Virgil Abloh’s first design as artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear. The group show he’s part of this time, Au diapason du monde (In tune with the world), brings together an array of modern and contemporary works from the Louis Vuitton Collection never exhibited at its Paris Foundation before. With his section unfolding in three parts -- a room dedicated to his alter ego DOB, a Taoist referencing pictorial fresco, and a space of sculptures and films dubbed “KAWAII”-- it’s an arresting, topical showing that re-appropriates the myths of old to engage with the world as we know it today. ...

THE HINDU Tyeb Mehta’s seminal work,Durga Mahisasura Mardini. Celebrated Indian modern artist Tyeb Mehta’s seminal work, Durga Mahisasura Mardini , will headline Sotheby’s first India sale in December. The announcement of the sale comes almost two years after the international auction house set up their office in Mumbai. The artwork was commissioned directly from Mehta in 1993 and has remained in a private collection since. The auction of the work marks its first appearance in the art market. While Gaurav Bhatia, managing director, Sotheby’s India, refrained from divulging the estimated value of Durga Mahisasura Mardini , he hoped that it will beat the record set for a Tyeb Mehta painting, which stands at $3.6 million for Untitled (Woman On Rickshaw) at Christie’s annual sale in London last year. His earlier work, Mahishasura , became the first modern Indian painting to fetch more than $1 million in 2005. [ More ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Maggie Astor Survivors of Auschwitz returned to the camp in January 2017, on the 72nd anniversary of its liberation. In a recent survey, 41 percent of American adults did not know what Auschwitz was. Credit Agencja Gazeta/Reuters For seven decades, “never forget” has been a rallying cry of the Holocaust remembrance movement. But a survey released Thursday , on Holocaust Remembrance Day, found that many adults lack basic knowledge of what happened — and this lack of knowledge is more pronounced among millennials, whom the survey defined as people ages 18 to 34. Thirty-one percent of Americans, and 41 percent of millennials, believe that two million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust; the actual number is around six million. Forty-one percent of Americans, and 66 percent of millennials, cannot say what Auschwitz was. And 52 percent of Americans wrongly think Hitler came to power through force. Despite the gaps in the respondents’ knowledge, the study f...

BLOUIN | ARTINFO "Amendment" – note that this qur'an section comprises 11 complete and 2 partial suras beginning from Verse 18 until the end of the sura an-Naba', surat an-Nazi'at, surat 'Abasa, surat at--Takwir, surat al-Infitar, surat al-Mutaffifin, surat al-Inshiqaq, surat al-Burj, surat at-Tariq, surat al-A'la, surat al-Ghashiyah, surat al-Fajr, and up to Verse 11 of surat al-Balad. Estimated Price: £8,000 - £10,000 $ 11,350 - 14,200 (Courtesy - Rosebery's) London's Rosebery auction house will offer Islamic and Indian art during their February auction on April 23. Among the top lots of the sale is "Amendment" a qur'an section that comprises 11 complete and 2 partial suras beginning from Verse 18 until the end of the sura an-Naba', surat an-Nazi'at, surat 'Abasa, surat at--Takwir, surat al-Infitar, surat al-Mutaffifin, surat al-Inshiqaq, surat al-Burj, surat at-Tariq, surat al-A'la, surat al-Ghashiyah, surat al...

DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS 1,200 year old relics of the Buddha figure found by construction workers Qamdo City, China A newly discovered cliff carvings of Buddha in eastern Tibet may offer a glimpse into the Buddhist art and local history from 1,200 years ago, according to experts. The discoveries, dating back to the Tibetan Tubo Kingdom era, were found in Acur township in Chagyab County of the Qamdo City, the regional cultural relics protection research institute said. The era of Tubo Kingdom is said to be the most powerful period in Tibet's history which has made contributions to the Tibetan culture and the Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan leader Songtsan Gambo brought together more than 10 separate tribes during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) of China, an event commonly seen as marking the establishment of the Tubo Kingdom, making his capital in present-day Lhasa. [ More ]

JEWISH EXPONENT By Rachel Kurland “Tzfat” is one of several paintings in Ruth Feldman’s exhibit, which will be on display at Gratz College. | Ruth Feldman Art © 2018 MELROSE PARK, PA---When it comes to counting the omer, Ruth Feldman isn’t so concerned with numbers. Instead, she focuses on the growth of self rather than the growth of barley. Feldman, who lives in Lower Merion, paints acrylic and oil abstracts of nature and landscapes. Her paintings explore physical and spiritual growth. Curated by Bryant Girsch, her solo exhibit, called Counting the Omer , will be on display at the Gratz College Leona P. Kramer Gallery from April 15 to May 30. Feldman will lead the artist’s reception April 15 at 1:30 p.m. “I paint from my soul,” she explains on her website. “I believe that creativity is a spiritual response to living in the natural world. I paint not what I see, but rather what I don’t see — I try to paint what I feel.” [ More ]

THE CHARLOTTE POST By Ashley Mahoney Romare Bearden's "The Annunciation" (1946)  CHARLOTTE---Oppression is universal. “Wrestling the Angel: A Century of Artists Reckoning With Religion,” on view at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art through Sept. 9, featuring artists from various eras, backgrounds and religious influences. Three pieces by Charlotte-born artist Romare Bearden hang in the exhibition: “The Annunciation” circa 1967, and “The Baptism” circa 1972 and “The Annunciation” circa 1974. His work explores not only the role of Christianity in American society, but the way in which it was forced upon enslaved people brought over from Africa. “It takes on that theme of a stolen or an oppressed people who are given this religion. [ More ]

THE GUARDIAN By Julia Raeside Buddy movie … Helen Bond & Joan Taylor in Israel. Photograph: Production/Channel 4 Until now, the women in the Bible have been split broadly into “pious onlookers or repentant prostitutes”. But in Jesus’ Female Disciples: The New Evidence, Bible experts Helen Bond and Joan Taylor are determined to prove that the women in the greatest story ever told have been gradually side-lined and all but erased. Naturally, to do this they must go on a journey. I have long since given up hope that another means of historical TV investigation might be deployed. One where an expert with a headful of facts gets to show and tell their findings without the window dressing of a buddy movie. And every moment of significance being prefigured and accompanied by two dozen steadfast violinists, working their elbows like pistons. [ More ]

ISLAMIC ART MAGAZINE The Katonah Museum of Art is pleased to present Long, Winding Journeys: Contemporary Art and the Islamic Tradition . This exhibition features a group of thirty-one artists of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent whose work engages the diverse forms of Islamic visual tradition. Long, Winding Journeys is the first exhibition on the subject in an East Coast museum, and with fifty works of art in all media, it is a trailblazing examination of the subject in the United States. Long, Winding Journeys: Contemporary Art and the Islamic Tradition will be on view at the Katonah Museum of Art until June 17, 2018. [ More ]

PHUKET-NEWS Mark Knowles Arnaud Nazare-Aga's signature style is defined by sensual curves and a gentle roundness. His vivacious works often elicit amusement, smiles and laughter from those who view it and also offer an insight into Arnaud’s joyful philosophy of art and life. "I began my work as an artist aged 18 by building Buddhist temples, as well as sculptures representing Buddha or deities of Tibetan Buddhism."Born in Paris in 1965, Arnaud received architectural art training while being educated at a Buddhist community in Burgundy. Later in life Arnaud embarked on a life-changing artistic journey and established the PAJ’Art Studio in Bangkok. The Phuket News recently spoke to Arnaud about his life and work, his influences and his lifelong quest to spread joy through art. [ More ]

BLOG ARTDEX Maurizio Cattelan: Official trailer for the documentary “Be Right Back.” The film documents Cattelan, a satirical sculptor, who has no formal training and considers himself an “art worker” rather than an artist, from his early days to the Guggenheim retrospective in 2011-2012. In Part 1 of our Conceptual Art Series, we talked about how Marcel Duchamp changed the course of art history with the debut of his notorious 1917 Fountain, and how conceptual art has found a place for itself in the mainstream art world. Over the years, we would see various works of conceptualism that would come with surprisingly hefty price tags in the art market. Ultimately, it’s difficult to say what factors play a role in the pricing of conceptual art. How to assess a value of an idea and who decides what concept is worth more? “Art,” whether conceptual version or not, never fails to lead us to more questions than answers. [ More ]

ARTDAILY A journalist looks at a Vishnu votive stele from Cambodia, a late 12th century Sandstone engraved with 255 small images of the four-armed Vishnu on each side, is displayed at the exhibition. Roslan RAHMAN / AFP. SINGAPORE---Angkor is widely considered to be among the world's most magnificent architectural masterpieces – its extensive complexes and detailed stone carvings have intrigued innumerable travellers, scientists, historians, and archaeologists since its sensational re-emergence onto the world stage in the late 19th century. The Asian Civilisations Museum welcomes visitors to re-discover the art, architecture, and legacy of this ancient city through its special exhibition Angkor: Exploring Cambodia’s Sacred City. Masterpieces of the Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet. The exhibition showcases more than 140 sculptures, watercolours, drawings, and historic memorabilia from the Musée national des arts asiatiques – Guimet (Guimet Museum), one of the premier...