August 30, 2012–In a moving editorial in the New York Times, Eve. M. Kahn discusses the emergence of newly discovered pottery and fragments of vessels by David Drake, an enslaved 19th-century potter in Edgefield, South Carolina. Drake signed his works “Dave” and sometimes inscribed them with poems that were odes to the “noble jar” or […]
Today, August 30, 2012, marks the 264th birthday of Jacques Louis David (1748-1825), the embodiment of Neoclassicism. Jacques Louis David’s history paintings, such as the famed The Death of Socrates above, marked a shift in European artistic style from the levity of Rococo to a heightened drama and severity of line and mood that paralleled […]
“…the miniature, the little picture that could be covered by a kiss or hidden in the palm of the hand had an intimate and personal quality, it was a pledge of affection, often a gauge of stolen joys; it could be carried by the exiled in never so hurried a flight, could be concealed in […]
It may be hard to find a more perfect embodiment of the axiom “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” than New York City sanitation worker Nelson Molina’s collection. Tucked in the far corner of an otherwise elegant neighborhood, on 99th Street between First and Second Avenues, lives one of the Sanitation Department’s garages. Dark and […]
The great Australian art critic Robert Hughes passed away last week on August 6, aged 74. Although best known for his acerbic criticisms such as “Jeff Koons is the baby to Andy Warhol’s Rosemary,” Hughes had an eloquent appreciation for all that was fine and great as well. The Art Newspaper re-posts a dinner address […]
In a brief but insightful July/August Editor’s Letter in The Magazine Antiques, Editor Elizabeth Pochoda discusses the reemergence of folk art on the main stage of the art world courtesy of some big moves by some big players, including the transplantation of the Barnes Foundation to a new building in downtown Philadelphia and the resurgence […]
Above is the near-mint copy of the world’s most coveted comic book, found in a storage unit that was auctioned off in California. At $2,161,000, this is one of the highest paying storage finds ever. Antique Trader reports on this and four other incredible finds here.
Don’t miss your chance to see Gold, Jasper, and Carnelian: Johann Christian Neuber at the Saxon Court at The Frick Collection before it closes at the end of next week, August 19. The New York Times called it the “sleeper of the summer.” In 18th century Saxony (part of Germany), one of Dresden’s most illustrious […]
Yayoi Kusama likes dots. More specifically, polka dots. For her “…a polka-dot has the form of the sun… Polka-dots are a way to infinity.” The current Kusama retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, July 1 – September 30, attempts to capture her efforts at lassoing the universe through art. Her best known works, […]
Reported by Eve M. Kahn in the New York Times, hundreds of unmarked 19th century French vases have been attributed to the master maker Haviland thanks to the incredible sleuthing of married couple, Robert F. Doares Jr. and Barbara Myers. With no institutional funding and no formal arts training, the couple follow the call of […]