Richly Decorated Memorials Emerge From Ancient Traditions

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ted Loos

Memorial poles by the contemporary artists Joe Guymala, Gabriel Maralngurra and Joey Nganjmirra are among 112 on view in Virginia.Collection of Debra and Dennis Scholl

For indigenous artists all over the world, the march toward representation in museums has been slow and not at all steady. It has come in fits and starts. In North America, Canadian institutions have generally made more sustained efforts at devoting space and resources to indigenous art than those in the United States. But that has been changing of late. A current show at the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville offers American viewers a chance to see works by indigenous artists from a remote part of Australia’s Northern Territory known as Arnhem Land. [More]

Kehinde Wiley's Anti-Confederate Memorial

THE NEW YORKER
By Kriston Capps

Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War,” which was recently installed in Richmond, Virginia, mimics Confederate monuments that were erected in the city during the rise of Jim Crow. Photograph by Steve Helber / AP / Shutterstock

In a rainy morning in December, Kehinde Wiley climbed onto a grandstand set up outside the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in Richmond, to unveil a statue. Wiley, an African-American artist, who is forty-two and short, wore black Converse sneakers and a suit patterned like stained glass, which set him apart from the local officials who preceded him onstage. “I think we all have to do a big bow and a ‘thank you’ to whatever powers brought us here today,” he said. The plaza of the museum, where the ceremony took place, faces the headquarters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. [More]

Statue Depicts Black Man on Horseback "Speaking Back" to People Looking at Confederate Monuments

CBS NEWS

A new statue of a black man on horseback now sits a few blocks from a famous row of Confederate monuments in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy. It was inspired by one of the Confederate monuments, a statue of General Jeb Stuart on horseback, but it sends a very different message. "CBS This Morning" co-host Anthony Mason spoke exclusively with the new monument's artist, Kehinde Wiley, about how he wants to create a new narrative. A few years ago, Wiley, of California, came face-to-face for the first time with the statues of Stuart, as well as Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson along Richmond's Monument Avenue. "There's a type of ceremony that surrounds the valorization of these guys," Wiley said. [More]

Something Changing in These Winds': Kehinde Wiley's 'Rumors of War' Unveiled in Richmond

RICHMOND-POST GAZETTE
By Colleen Curran

See a comparison of Kehinde Wiley's "Rumors of War" and the Gen. J.E.B. Stuart statue on Monument Avenue.

Nearly a century after the last Confederate statue was erected on Monument Avenue, a crowd massed Tuesday beneath gray skies and drizzle at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for New York-based artist Kehinde Wiley's response: a muscular, triumphant African American astride a horse, looking defiantly toward the sky. "Rumors of War" is modeled after the monument to Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart on Monument Avenue, which Wiley saw when he was visiting Richmond three years ago for his career retrospective, "Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic," at VMFA. Wiley's version depicts an African American wearing ripped jeans and Nike high-top sneakers. [More] [More]

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Kehinde Wiley, 42, at the statue's unveiling on Friday at Times Square in NYC of Richmond, Virginia addition to its Monument Avenue to be installed in 2020.

Kehinde Wiley's 27 feet high bronze sculpture of an African American man riding a horse is headed to Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue, a 1.5-mile boulevard of equestrian monuments honoring Confederate traitors. Richmond is home to America's only monumental urban expression of white supremacy, and soon Kehinde Wiley's "Rumours of War" statue will integrate that boulevard. “Today,” he said, “we say yes to something that looks like us. We say yes to inclusivity. We say yes to broader notions of what it means to be an American.” A love for equality makes Kehinde Wiley, our artist of the week.

Kehinde Wiley's Times Square Monument: That's No Robert E. Lee

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Reggie Ugwu

The sculpture, called “Rumors of War,” is Kehinde Wiley’s first work of public art and his first major piece since his portrait of President Obama.

He looks like a man lost in time, uprooted, with the horse he rode in on, from a previous century, perhaps, or was it a future one? In a riot of flashing neon signs and costumed avengers, populating a patch of Times Square on Broadway between 46th and 47th Streets, he can be seen looking regal and triumphant astride a rearing steed worthy of Napoleon, flanked between the modern colonial outposts of American Eagle Outfitters and Express. The new statue, a bronze sculpture on limestone titled “Rumors of War” and unveiled on Friday, is the first public work by the artist Kehinde Wiley. Mr. Wiley, 42, is best known for his aristocratic portraits of African-American men, including the one of President Obama that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. [More]

PHOTOS: 'Awaken,' new exhibit on art of Tibetan Buddhism

RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH

Tsherin Sherpa'a "Luxation 1" at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

RICHMOND, Va---"Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment," is at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art from April 27 to Aug. 18, 2019. [More]

Colonial Williamsburg Acquires its First Judaica Objects

ARTDAILY

Kiddush Cup, probably by William Harrison I (active ca. 1758-1781), London, England, ca. 1775, silver (sterling) and gold, Museum Purchase, The Antique Collectors’ Guild, 2016-1

WILLIAMSBURG, VA.- The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has recently added several important objects of Judaica to its collections: a sterling silver and gold Kiddush cup and a silver and gold yad (or Torah pointer). These mark the first such objects in the Foundation’s holdings and exemplify the concerted efforts in recent years by the curators to acquire objects and address the stories of all early Americans while remaining true to their long-standing strength in British and American decorative arts. Additionally, objects that represent the early Anglo-American experience have also been acquired. [More]

‘These Works Demand You to Confront Them’: How Artist Kevin Beasley Transforms Cotton Into Social Commentary

ARTNET NEWS

Production still from the Art21 “New York Close Up” film, “Kevin Beasley’s Raw Materials.” © Art21, Inc. 2019

As Kevin Beasley drove down the long, twisting driveway up to a farmhouse in Valentines, Virginia, for a family reunion back in 2011, he was just getting started on a journey that has finally culminated in a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. What triggered the artist’s years-long project was encountering fields planted, as far as the eye could see, with cotton. The plant is more than just a crop. It has infiltrated every aspect of capitalism, social interaction, cultural history, and identity in America. When Beasley saw the white-tufted stalks, it was a moment of reckoning. [More]

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Exhibition Focuses on Shrines Across Japan

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

Kansa Shrine at Lake Tazawa, from the series Souvenirs of Travel III, 1927, Kawase Hasui (Japanese, 1883 - 1957), Woodblock print; ink and color on paper. René and Carolyn Balcer Collection.

This Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibition features twelve woodblock prints by Japanese artist Kawase Hasui (1883-1957). Selected from nearly 700 Hasuiprints donated to the museum by René and Carolyn Balcer, these works focus on scenes of temples and shrines across Japan, celebrating their sacred architecture and connections between people and nature. This installation is curated by Li Jian, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of East Asian Art, and coincides with the 100th anniversary of the first prints created by Hasui in 1918. [More]

Sacred art of the Spanish Andes at Virginia's Chrysler Museum

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 Collection of Roberta and Richard Huber” is on view through June 3. [More]

An amateur art historian may have found a rare Raphael print in a rural Virginia church

ARTNET NEWS
By Henri Neuendorf

Raphael's Madonna di San Sisto (1513–14). Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

RICHMOND, VA----A local art enthusiast may have identified a rare print by Renaissance master Raphael hanging in a small, rural church outside of Richmond, Virginia. The artwork, which could be a significant and valuable copy of a famous painting by the Italian artist, apparently went unnoticed by church staff for decades. In November 2015, Italian expat Federico Colagrande, a Renaissance art fan, attended a funeral at Gilboa Church, a quaint brick building in Louisa County that dates back to 1849. After mourners left, Colagrande and his girlfriend Annette Bronson stayed behind to explore the church, a pastime the couple called “extreme churching” in a report by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. [More]

Happy Thanksgiving! Art by Joseph Griffith

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.

Tear down the Confederate monuments—but what next? 12 art historians on the way forward

ARTNET NEWS

Virginia State Police in riot gear stand in front of the statue of General Robert E. Lee before forcing white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the "alt-right" out of Emancipation Park after the "Unite the Right" rally was declared an unlawful gathering August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Across the United States, the debate about Confederate memorials and other monuments to a racist past has entered a critical phase. In the wake of the horrifying events of Charlottesville, city governments from Baltimore, Maryland, to Madison, Wisconsin, have been moved to act. Yet important questions about how to act remain. What is the most effective way to deal with such historically loaded material? Once removed, what is to be done with the disputed monuments? We asked 12 art historians and experts, who have dedicated their work to exploring the finer points of such matters, for their insight on the debate currently gripping the country. Above all, should Confederate monuments be removed, and if so, how? [More]

Anita Breitenberg's "Disdain|Desire" opens at Convergence

ALEXANDRIA NEWS

The story of Jesus is rooted in history. The story of Jesus transforms our story.

ALEXANDRIA, VA---For the past four decades, Anita Breitenberg has illustrated verses of Scripture and sought to broaden the appeal of contemporary Christian art to a wider and diversified audience by presenting it in a radically provocative manner. Breitenberg’s works have been exhibited in The Museum of Biblical Art in Manhattan, Yale University and the Washington National Cathedral, and are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Biblical Art in Dallas, Texas and Catholic University. Large-scale images of Anita Breitenberg’s new illustrated Gospel series will be on display in the Gallery at Convergence July 21 – Oct. 8, 2017 with a reception and book signing on Sept. 17 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. [More]

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Gregory Disney-Britton poses as "Saint Paul the Hermit" at Virginia Fine Arts Museum

A seven-foot Baroque portrait of a first-century saint hangs in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. It's Italian artist Luca Giordano's 1705 depiction of Saint Paul the Hermit, who hid from religious persecution for 80+ years and depended on his daily bread being delivered to his cave by a raven. Giordano has chosen the moment of Saint Paul's death surrounded by angels and his hands uplifted in welcome. At his right side is a skull representing death, and to his lower left is a black raven with a loaf of bread in his mouth. This week, we drove 734-miles from Indianapolis through Virginia, the cradle of religious freedom in America beginning with Richmond.

Virginia's Chrysler Museum showing art reflecting Iranian heritage

ALTDAILY

Monir Farmanfarmaian, Third Family – Heptagon, 2011. Mirror, reverse-glass painting, and acrylic. Courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery. Photo: Robert Divers Herrick.

NORFOLK, Va.---The Chrysler Museum of Art presents a selection of the geometric wonder of the art of Iranian-born artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian through July 30, 2017. "Monir Sharoudy Farmanfarmaian: Infinite Possibility—Mirror Works and Drawings," 1974–2014 is free. “Monir’s contemporary approach to an Iranian art form results in an extraordinarily complex and beautiful body of work that is unparalleled in the contemporary art world,” says Diane Wright, the Chrysler Museum’s Barry Curator of Glass. “We are thrilled for the opportunity to exhibit her mirror mosaics and drawings within the context of our glass galleries and as part of a more expansive, encyclopedic museum collection.” [More]

Richmond, Va. to host major conference on Islamic Art

STYLE WEEKLY

A keynote address will be given by contemporary artist, Lalla Essaydi, whose work "often combines Islamic calligraphy with representations of the female form to address the complex realities of Arab female identity from the unique perspective of intimate, personal experience."

RICHMOND, Va. ----In 2004, Richmond held its first major international conference on Islamic Art. Since then, the conference has been held in Qatar, Spain and Italy. Next fall, it will be returning to Richmond's Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on Nov. 2 through Nov. 4. “Islamic Art: Past, Present and Future” is sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, VCUarts Qatar and the Qatar Foundation. The Thursday through Saturday event will feature opening remarks by "her excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa Bint Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani," the chairperson of Qatar Museums, Doha Film Institute and Qatar Leadership, and a "proponent of the arts as a catalyst for education, dialogue and exchange," according to a press release. [More]

Kehinde Wiley's Bold, Provocative Art in Richmond, VA

THE WASHINGTON POST
By Phillip Kennicott

VIRGINIA---There’s really no point in standing up close to a painting by Kehinde Wiley, the young African American artist whose works are among the most sought-after contemporary art in the world today. His large-format paintings, full of bold colors and strong contrasts of background pattern and figuration, are arresting, but they tend to arrest you about 10 to 15 feet away. “Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic” began at the Brooklyn Museum of Art more than a year ago and has since been seen in Fort Worth and Seattle. Art historical references abound, with Wiley borrowing poses and gestures from paintings by Dutch masters, Velázquez, Holbein, Manet, Landseer and Titian. [link]

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Ernest & Gregory Disney-Britton

Kehinde Wiley's portraits often feature gay black men as Christian saints

If you’ve been searching for some way to deal with the massacre in Orlando, we have too. The need to mourn and the desire for action can be a complicated process, but that's when we look to art of the religious imagination. This week, we turn to a newly opened art museum retrospective on the master artist, Kehinde Wiley. Recognized for his portrayal of black men, and especially gay black men like himself, Wiley reinterprets the conventions of high church portraiture. So what are you waiting for? Kehinde Wiley's portraits are now on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.