October 2017 Art News

Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys Presents a Compelling and Nuanced Portrait of the Unprecedented Changes Unfolding in Mecca, Islam’s Holiest City

December 1, 2017–April 8, 2018

The High Museum of Art is the first venue in the United States to present “Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design” (Oct. 14, 2017, through Jan. 7, 2018), a major touring exhibition organized by the Vitra Design Museum and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Over the past year, museums, galleries, auction houses, and even one entire town have paid homage to the founding of the ground-breaking movement of art and architecture known as De Stijl.  The founding of De Stijl in the Netherlands is often simply attributed to Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, but alongside was Theo van Doesburg, a painter who promoted De Stijl through architecture.  There were other artists, too, including Vilnos Huzzan and Max Burchartz as well as architectural practitioners Gerrit Thomas Rietveld and J.J.P. Oud.

WASHINGTON, DC -  Original works by women cartoonists and illustrators are featured in a new exhibition opening at the Library of Congress on Nov. 18. Spanning the late 1800s to the present, “Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists” brings to light remarkable but little-known contributions made by North American women to these art forms.

NEW YORK – 26 OCTOBER 2017 – Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo, the worldwide market leader in watch auctions, announced that its inaugural New York sale realized $28,875,750 / CHF 28,806,448 / €24,769,618- the highest total for a watch auction in US history. This historic and record-breaking evening saw global participation from collectors across 43 countries, and a packed saleroom of nearly 700 people enthusiastically vying for some of the finest watches in the world. 

"Like place, time is an important theological category and, like the Incarnation, it can be hard to comprehend. This episode looks at sophisticated ways of handling different but related time frames in Ercole de’ Roberti’s ‘The Dead Christ’ (about 1490) and the exquisite ‘The Deposition’ by the Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece (about 1500–5).

"What attracted the Pre-Raphaelites to Alfred Tennyson’s poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’? And how did the convex mirror from van Eyck’s ‘Arnolfini Portrait’ come to play an essential role in their depictions of the mysterious weaver and her deadly curse?" - The National Gallery

 

"Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator at The Frick Collection, provides an introduction to the current exhibition, 'Veronese in Murano: Two Venetian Renaissance Masterpieces Restored,' on view at the Frick Collection from October 24, 2017 through March 25, 2018." - The Frick Collection

"Alexander Heinrici, Andy Warhol’s favourite silkscreen printer reveals the special skills that have led many of the biggest names in post-war American art to seek him out, and explains why he believes the medium is the ‘most immediate, painterly form of printing.’

‘My main profession is to make the artist look good,’ says Alexander Heinrici, reflecting on his distinguished career as a master printer. ‘The artist is the creative element and he gives you a riddle to solve, and you solve it.’

"Art critic, Alastair Sooke, investigates the fascinating rediscovery of Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi, one of fewer than 20 surviving paintings accepted as from the artist’s own hand.