Author: Iris
In 2024, the art auction market shows signs of recovery, but it is far from reaching the high point in 2022, and is even lower than last year’s level. The cumulative value of the top ten auction lots sold in 2024 was $512.6 million. This is down 22.3% from the 2023 total of $660 million and down 53% from the 2022 total of $1.1 billion. Meanwhile, public auction sales in the Old Master, modern, post-war and contemporary art categories at auction houses Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips will total $4.1 billion in 2024, according to a recent report by London-based analytics…
Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has made news after his photo circulated online for weeks The subject of newsroom ethics debates and crazy memes.But famed sketch artist Jane Rosenberg took about 15 minutes to capture Mangione’s likeness during his initial appearance in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, Dec. 19, just before he collected the to a federal arrest warrant hours later. Her final photo depicts a bushy-browed, broad-shouldered Mangione flanked by two of his attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Mark Agnifilo; The accused gunman had a quiet expression, somewhere between resignation and acceptance.…
Before 2024 even begins, and arguably even before October 7, 2023, the art world is divided between Israel and Palestine. But this year, the divide widened further until there was no room for nuanced debate. Suspicions of anti-Semitism and anti-Palestinian sentiment are spreading in every corner, and looking to museums for guidance is sure to disappoint some. From New York’s Noguchi Museum to Switzerland’s Kunstmuseum Bern to Qatar’s Mataf, cultural institutions around the world have been accused of censoring artists and curators in 2024, in many cases based on their pro-Palestinian politics . Related articles The number of accusations has…
Scene depicting the myth of Hippolytus and Phaedra (Image courtesy of MIC Pompeii Archaeological Park)From sexy murals emerging from the ashes to hidden cities revealed through light detection and ranging (LiDAR) scans, archaeologists continue to make discoveries that change our understanding of the past and how best to preserve it for the future. This year in particular has seen archaeologists stand up for their work, speaking out about threats to Lebanese cultural heritage, and a video of Israeli soldiers handling artifacts in Gaza, to name just a few examples of researchers refusing to become complacent in the face of authoritarian…
Tlingit Unangax̂ Artist Nicholas Galanin has been awarded the 2024 Don Tyson Award for the Advancement of American Art from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Prize money includes a $200,000 cash award. The Don Tyson Award was established in 2016 to recognize an individual or collective in the United States working in any medium. The award was established by the Tyson family in memory of the late Don Tyson, former chairman and CEO of Tyson Foods. Past American artists who have won the award include Deborah Willis in 2022 and Vanessa German in 2018.“Nicholas Galanin’s…
French figurative painter Claire Tabouret has been chosen to create new stained glass windows for Notre Dame, which reopens on December 7 after six years of renovations. Tabre was selected by French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich and said in a statement to the media that her winning work depicts praying people from different cultural backgrounds. Celebrating Pentecost. The painter, who now lives in Los Angeles, will collaborate with the Simon & Mark glass studio in Reims, which was drafted in to restore the cathedral, which was damaged during World War II. Founded in 1640, its distinguished…
Last week, Swiss artist Reto Pulfer, Iranian artist Maryam Hoseini and German artist Anna Witt requested that their works be removed from the Venice nonprofit Scuola Piccola Zattere removed from the first exhibition. The exhibition, titled “Fraction of a Year: Primo Movimento,” opens on November 22 and is expected to run until March 30, 2025. There are still three artists in the exhibition: Agnieska Mastalerz from Poland and Italians Ludovica Carbotta and Tomaso De Luca. Scuola Piccola Zattere was founded in November by Victoria Mikhelson, the daughter of Russian billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, who serves as President of Russia Vladimir Putin…
when you hear this name Sandro Botticelli, you’re probably more likely to think of the Birth of Venus than the Birth of Jesus. But since it’s Christmas, now is a better time than ever to draw attention to a little-known and somewhat ominous painting by Botticelli depicting the latter. The Mysterious Nativity (1500), now in the National Gallery, London, is the only work signed by Botticelli. After centuries of obscurity, it reappeared in the 1800s as a complex composition imbued with symbolism.A cursory glance paints an ordinary Christmas image. The Virgin Mary and Joseph dote on baby Jesus in a…
Earlier this year, dealer Rebecca Camacho was standing in her new and expanded gallery in Jackson Square in downtown San Francisco when she paused to point to the arched windows facing the street. “There were people walking by all the time. It was live! ” she said. Others in parts of downtown San Francisco, such as the Union Square area near Camacho’s former location, see things differently. After the pandemic, nearly 37% of office buildings in the region remain vacant, a rate higher than the national average. The vacancies resulted in the closure of the retail space. Additionally, San Francisco…
In January, several industry insiders predicted that Aboriginal art would receive more attention this year. That month, Phillips prepared to open “New Terrain,” its first sales exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal and First Nations art, at its New York headquarters. It soon became apparent that Phillips’ predictions before and after the exhibition were correct. Later that month, the Venice Biennale will announce the list of artists for its main exhibition, “Foreigners Everywhere,” which will include many indigenous artists. Now, as 2024 draws to a close, museums, auction houses and galleries are providing further evidence that Aboriginal art is on the rise.…