Interviews & Essays

In June this year, a colossal ancient marble head was discovered in Rome. Presumably once part of a larger, full-body statue, the identity of the bust is yet to be determined. Although it was found in the forum of Trajan, it does not resemble the emperor, who reigned from AD 98-117, and might be a portrait of his predecessor Nerva. In any case, this is the latest in a series of similar finds from excavations in Trajan’s Forum, as marble heads of the god Dionysus and the emperor Augustus were unearthed nearby in 2019.

In 1943, the Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres-García sketched a map of South America with the continent turned upside down, so that its southern tip was at the top, marked “South Pole.” Titled América Invertida, the drawing was intended as a declaration of independence for all Latin American artists, expressing the belief that in order to fulfill their destiny, they must stop seeing themselves as peripheral.

Step into the Tivoli Kopke Porto Gaia Hotel in Portugal, and step back in time to the 1630s, when wine was the primary economic force in the region. Today, it's still an essential part of the economy, with imbibers coming from all corners of the globe to partake.

The title creation process for abstract art can be fascinating. Sometimes titles are chosen by a family member, agent, or gallery. But most artists title their works themselves, deliberately crafting titles that give a visual context to artworks, labeling their inspiration, or grabbing viewers' attention. 

Faced with government funding cuts and mounting redevelopment expenses, the British Museum is taking a page out of the American fundraising playbook with an inaugural ball on October 18th.

Joanna Pousette-Dart has deep art-world credentials. Her husband is abstract painter David Novros, her father was iconic Abstract Expressionist painter Richard Pousette-Dart, and her mother, the poet Evelyn Gracey. Her home and studio are on Broome Street in lower Manhattan, accessible by street buzzer in a landmarked cast-iron building.

Stock exchanges have been offering the public a piece of corporate earnings since the Dutch East India Company opened one in 1602, but only recently has art become a tradable security. Half a dozen or so investment firms specializing in art shares have been steadily evangelizing the potential financial benefits of owning a stake in otherwise out-of-budget works. 

Acclaimed Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton (1972)– two-time winner of the Archibald Prize, the most prestigious portraiture prize in Australia– has a solo show opening in October at New York’s Albertz Benda gallery. Del Kathryn Barton: the more than human world runs October 30th through December 13th and features two new bronze sculptures and a series of new 

A longtime presence on the San Francisco art scene, Rowland Weinstein founded Weinstein Gallery in 1992. The gallery, which specializes in non-objective and Surrealist art from the pre–World War II period in Europe through Abstract Expressionism and the New York School, is dedicated to the rediscovery of marginalized artists and to the idea that art should be accessible to everyone.

Born in England, formed as a surrealist in Paris, residing in Mexico since 1942, Leonora Carrington had her first solo exhibition in New York in 1948. It was held at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, arranged by her patron, Edward James, an eccentric English collector who also championed the work of Salvador Dalí.