Katsushika Hokusai, ‘Kanagawa oki nami ura (Under the well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa) [Great Wave],’ Japanese and Korean Art auction, March 21, estimated at $500,000-$700,000. Image courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd. 2023

Christie’s NY greets Asian Art Week with eight auspicious auctions

Katsushika Hokusai, ‘Kanagawa oki nami ura (Under the well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa) [Great Wave],’ Japanese and Korean Art auction, March 21, estimated at $500,000-$700,000. Image courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd. 2023

Katsushika Hokusai, ‘Kanagawa oki nami ura (Under the well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa) [Great Wave],’ Japanese and Korean Art auction, March 21, estimated at $500,000-$700,000. Image courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd. 2023

NEW YORK – Christie’s celebrates Asian Art Week in New York this spring with eight auctions, five live and three online.

Read more

Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916), ‘Sailing,’ circa 1875, oil on canvas. The Alex Simpson, Jr., Collection, 1928. 1928-63-6

Eakins painting ‘sails’ to Nelson-Atkins to settle Super Bowl bet

Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916), ‘Sailing,’ circa 1875, oil on canvas. The Alex Simpson, Jr., Collection, 1928. 1928-63-6

Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916), ‘Sailing,’ circa 1875, oil on canvas. The Alex Simpson, Jr., Collection, 1928. 1928-63-6. Image courtesy of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City Chiefs victory in a hard-fought Super Bowl brings a winning painting to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Thomas Eakins’ Sailing is the trophy following #MuseumBowl23. Had the game ended differently, the Nelson-Atkins would have packed one of its own treasures to send to Philadelphia.

Read more

Hilma af Klint, ‘The Evolution,’ The WUS/Seven-Pointed Star Series, Group IV, No.15, 1908. Courtesy of the Hilma af Klint Foundation

Tate Modern thoughtfully pairs Hilma af Klint and Piet Mondrian in April show

Hilma af Klint, ‘The Evolution,’ The WUS/Seven-Pointed Star Series, Group IV, No.15, 1908. Courtesy of the Hilma af Klint Foundation

Hilma af Klint, ‘The Evolution,’ The WUS/Seven-Pointed Star Series, Group IV, No.15, 1908. Courtesy of the Hilma af Klint Foundation

LONDON – Hilma af Klint (Swedish, 1862-1944) and Piet Mondrian (Dutch, 1872-1944) were two of the most imaginative artists of the 20th century. While they never met, they shared the same deep connection to the natural world and the desire to understand the forces behind life on earth. A major new exhibition at Tate Modern, Hilma af Klint and Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life, will put these two visionary painters in close dialog for the first time. The show will open on April 20 and close on September 3 and will feature around 250 works, including paintings, drawings and archival materials, revealing how their art reflected radical new ideas, theories and scientific discoveries in an era of rapid social change.

Read more

Florida exhibition brings Tiffany’s botanical designs to garden setting

‘Succulents in Silhouette.’ Location: Succulent Garden. Courtesy of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

‘Succulents in Silhouette.’ Location: Succulent Garden. Courtesy of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

SARASOTA, Fla. — Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is presenting Tiffany: The Pursuit of Beauty in Nature as the 2023 installment of its Jean & Alfred Goldstein exhibition series. The show — an elaborate living art display integrating horticulture and art installed throughout the gardens — showcases the creativity and innovation of the American artist and designer Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). It will continue through June 25.

Read more

Celtic fertility figure discovered by metal detectorist could score at auction

Paul Shepheard, who discovered the Celtic fertility figure in 2022 in a field in Haconby, England, poses with his metal detector and shovel. Image courtesy of Noonans, photo credit Paul Shepheard

Paul Shepheard, who discovered the Celtic fertility figure in 2022 in a field in Haconby, England, poses with his metal detector and shovel. Image courtesy of Noonans, photo credit Paul Shepheard

LONDON –  A Celtic fertility figure discovered last year in England by a metal detectorist will be offered at Noonans in a two-day sale of Ancient Coins and Antiquities on Wednesday, March 8 and Thursday, March 9 with an estimate of £800-£1,200 (about $962-$1,443).

Read more

Poster House unveils shows focused on imagery of Black Panthers, 20th C. Japan

Left, Free Bobby Seale!, circa 1969, designer unknown, the Merrill C. Berman Collection; Right, The City and Design, 1965, Tadanori Yokoo,the Merrill C. Berman Collection

Left, Free Bobby Seale!, circa 1969, designer unknown, the Merrill C. Berman Collection; Right, The City and Design, 1965, Tadanori Yokoo, the Merrill C. Berman Collection

NEW YORK – Poster House, the first museum in the United States dedicated to the global history of posters, is now presenting its two main exhibitions for the spring season: Black Power to Black People: Branding the Black Panther Party, and Made in Japan: 20th-Century Poster Art. Both will remain on view until September 30.

Read more

On Sunday, March 5, the Material Culture auction house will host Music and Mezze for Hope, A Benefit for Turkey and Syria, at its Philadelphia headquarters. The early February earthquake has, to date, killed roughly 51,000 people and displaced around 1.5 million. Image courtesy of Material Culture

Material Culture to host March 5 benefit event for earthquake victims

On Sunday, March 5, the Material Culture auction house will host Music and Mezze for Hope, A Benefit for Turkey and Syria, at its Philadelphia headquarters. The early February earthquake has, to date, killed roughly 51,000 people and displaced around 1.5 million. Image courtesy of Material Culture

On Sunday, March 5, the Material Culture auction house will host Music and Mezze for Hope, A Benefit for Turkey and Syria, at its Philadelphia headquarters. The early February earthquake has, to date, killed roughly 51,000 people and displaced around 1.5 million. Image courtesy of Material Culture

PHILADELPHIA – On Sunday, March 5, from 4 pm to 8 pm Eastern time, the Material Culture auction house will join Cedar Diaspora, Norma’s Eastern Mediterranean Cuisine and a talented lineup of musicians and dancers to stage an event titled “Music and Mezze for Hope, A Benefit for Turkey and Syria.”

Read more

Worcester Art Museum roams the ‘Frontiers of Impressionism,’ starting April 1

Claude Monet, ‘Waterlilies,’ 1908, oil on canvas, museum purchase, 1910.26

Claude Monet, ‘Waterlilies,’ 1908, oil on canvas, museum purchase, 1910.26

WORCESTER, Mass. — The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) will present Frontiers of Impressionism, an exhibition that paints a global picture of Impressionism, exploring the evolution and expansion of the revolutionary artistic movement through time and space. The exhibition opens April 1 and runs through June 25.

Read more

Illustration of the SS Savannah, the first steam-powered ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, originally published in a February 1877 issue of ‘Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.’ A piece of flotsam that washed up in New York off Fire Island after Tropical Storm Ian might be a piece of the famed ship, which ran aground and broke apart in 1821. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, which regards it as being in the public domain in the United States because it was published or registered with the U.S. Copyright office before January 1, 1928.

Flotsam found off New York may be from Steamship Savannah wrecked in 1820

Illustration of the SS Savannah, the first steam-powered ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, originally published in a February 1877 issue of ‘Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.’ A piece of flotsam that washed up in New York off Fire Island after Tropical Storm Ian might be a piece of the famed ship, which ran aground and broke apart in 1821. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, which regards it as being in the public domain in the United States because it was published or registered with the U.S. Copyright office before January 1, 1928.

Illustration of the SS Savannah, the first steam-powered ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, originally published in a February 1877 issue of ‘Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.’ A piece of flotsam that washed up in New York off Fire Island after Tropical Storm Ian might be a piece of the famed ship, which ran aground and broke apart in 1821. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, which regards it as being in the public domain in the United States because it was published or registered with the U.S. Copyright office before January 1, 1928.

NEW YORK (AP) – A chunk of weather-beaten flotsam that washed up on a New York shoreline after Tropical Storm Ian last fall has piqued the interest of experts who say it is likely part of the SS Savannah, which ran aground and broke apart in 1821, two years after it became the first vessel to cross the Atlantic Ocean partly under steam power.

Read more

Jacqueline Brito Jorge, ‘Adaptaciones (pies),’ 1996. Acrylic on canvas with shells and fish fins. Collection of ASU Art Museum. Gift of the artist. Photography by Craig Smith

Two Arizona museums join forces to survey Cuban art of ‘then and now’

Jacqueline Brito Jorge, ‘Adaptaciones (pies),’ 1996. Acrylic on canvas with shells and fish fins. Collection of ASU Art Museum. Gift of the artist. Photography by Craig Smith

Jacqueline Brito Jorge, ‘Adaptaciones (pies),’ 1996. Acrylic on canvas with shells and fish fins. Collection of ASU Art Museum. Gift of the artist. Photography by Craig Smith

PHOENIX – This spring, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) and Arizona State University Art Museum (ASU Art Museum) will co-present a new exhibition, Lo que es, es lo que ha sido/What It Is, Is What Has Been: Selections from the ASU Art Museum’s Cuban Art Collection, the first major curatorial collaboration between the two institutions in more than a decade. It will be on view from May 6 through September 17 at Phoenix Art Museum.

Read more