Final Christie's Report: Detroit Art Worth Up to $867-Million

DETROIT FREE PRESS
By Randy Kennedy

Detail from Michelangelo drawing for design of Sistine Chapel, estimates auction value is $12 million to $20 million

MICHIGAN---The price tags are on the paintings. Detroit’s emergency manager released a report from Christie’s auction house on Thursday detailing market estimates for some of the greatest masterpieces in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Art. The estimates – which Christie’s said would total between $454 million and $867 million – cover about 2,800 pieces, or less than 5 percent of the institute’s entire collection because Detroit’s emergency manager, Kevyn D. Orr, asked Christie’s to focus only on pieces that had been bought with city funds over the years, not ones than had been donated or bought with other funds. The museum and its supporters have vowed to go to court to try to stop any sale. [link]

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New Mexico Supreme Court Affirms the Freedom to Marry for Gay Couples

FREEDOM TO MARRY
By Adam Polaski

NEW MEXICO---Today (Thursday), the New Mexico Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in a lawsuit seeking clarification on laws regarding the freedom to marry in the state. The ruling affirmed what a majority of New Mexicans already know: That everyone in the state should have the freedom to marry the person they love. [link]

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Celebrating Two Years of Giving to Culture in Kentucky on power2give

FUND FOR THE ARTS

KENTUCKY---It’s been two years since the launch of power2give.org/Kentucky, an online crowd-funding platform, and the results have been extraordinary! More than 117 organizations have posted 430 projects and more than $1.1 million has been raised. Matching sponsors Kentucky Arts Council, Republic Bank & Trust Company, LG& E, Louisville Metro Government and Humana Foundation, have been an integral part of ensuring the success of the site, helping to leverage more than 3,600 gifts. Any 501(c)(3) organization in Kentucky or Southern Indiana can submit an Arts related project to power2give.org/kentucky for review. For more information please contact Annie Nelson at (502) 582-0128 or anelson@fundforthearts.com. [link]

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Museum Review: The Unfulfilling "Records of Rights" at National Archive

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ed Rothenstien

WASHINGTON, DC---Before we explore the problems with the permanent exhibition that opened this month at the National Archives here, it might help to recognize the challenges it faced. The exhibition, “Records of Rights,” is the first attraction you see after passing through the building’s new marble-clad entrance. Magna Carta is this exhibition’s promissory note, in more ways than one; its gallery’s promise is also unfulfilled. What are we left with, as we head up to the Rotunda to see the founding documents? No context or perspective; only grim struggles and partially won liberties. This is a peculiar way for an institution that is a reflection of the government itself, to see the nature of its origins, the character of its achievements, and the promise of its ideas. [link]

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Art Institute of Chicago Hosts 200-Piece Italian Nativity Scene From 1700s

ABC7 CHICAGO
By Frank Mathie

ILLINOIS--When we think of Nativity scenes or mangers, we usually think of small religious settings under the Christmas tree. But ABC7 Eyewitness Reporter Frank Mathie says the Art Institute of Chicago has gone big time with this ancient sacred story. "It's a crèche. A Neapolitan crèche. The Italians call it a precepio and it comes from the 18th century for the celebration of Christmas," said Sylvain Bellenger, curator, medieval European sculpture. Bellenger is responsible for acquiring the crèche from a collector in Naples, Italy. The familiar cast of Christmas Eve characters is all here but they are here in abundance, and they're dressed in the finest of Italian silks made by the finest designers almost 300 years ago. [Link]

 

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Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe Opens 21st Annual Art of Devotion Exhibition

ARTDAILY

Ave Maria Gratia, oil on canvas, 14.75” x 12”. Peru, ca. 1775

NEW MEXICO---Peyton Wright Gallery announces the 21st Annual Art of Devotion exhibition of historic art of the Americas. Consisting of ecclesiastical, secular, and decorative art and objects from Europe and the Americas, the exhibition continues through March 9, 2014. This exhibition showcases one of the largest and most significant collections of 17th to 19th century devotional artwork in the country, featuring Spanish Colonial Viceregal paintings, sculpture, furniture, silverwork, and objects from the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies – present-day Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela, Guatemala and the Philippines. [link]

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Jesus the Homeless' Sculpture May Find Home in Rome

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
By Caroline Hroncich

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A year ago, Timothy Schmalz's bronze sculpture "Jesus the Homeless" had been rejected by St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York and St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto. But in late November, Pope Francis blessed the sculpture at one of his weekly general audiences in front of thousands of eager pilgrims. The pontiff touched the knee of the sculpture and prayed for a few moments. Afterward, he told Schmalz he thought the sculpture was a "beautiful piece of art." [link]

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A Culture of Bidding: Forging an Art Market in China

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By David Barboza, Graham Bowley and Amanda Cox

Ma Weidu, a major collector who picked up some pieces in
exchange for cigarettes after the Cultural Revolution devalued art.

CHINA---“The market is in a very dubious stage,” said Alexander Zacke, an expert in Asian art who runs Auctionata, an international online auction house. While the luxury-buying habits in China often mimic those in the West, the demand for art reflects uniquely Chinese tastes. While the rest of the world bids up Pollocks and Rothkos, Chinese buyers typically pursue traditional Chinese pieces, some by 15th-century masters, and others by modern artists, like Zhang Daqian, one of many who have chosen to work in that old style. [link]

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Winter Solstice Marks New Dawn for Ancient Monument: Stonehenge Visitor Center is Now Open

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

Overhaul of 4,000-year-old monument cost $44 million. Photo courtesy of CNN.

We are headed to a Winter Solstice party this Saturday, December 21st. Our party however will be nothing compared to the celebration taking place at Stonehenge in England, where they've just opened a new $44 million Visitor's Center. The winter solstice is the high holyday of Stonehenge--the time at which the sun appears at noon at its lowest altitude above the horizon. The winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, and other terms are often used for the day on which it occurs, such as "midwinter", "the longest night" or "the shortest day". But what do you take to a Winter Solstice party? "Ornaments in the shape of the sun, stars, and other pagan symbols..." recommends legal expert Dusty Sparks, because it is based on the four elements of earth, wind, water, and fire.

People walk towards the new Stonehenge visitor center, Dec. 11, 2013.

On the huge wall of the main area the landscape digitally transforms over millennia. 

New exhibition includes a forensic reconstruction of an early Neolithic man's face

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Foundation's Secret Bids Guide Hopi Indians’ Spirits Home

THE NEW YORKBy Tom Mashberg

Alain Leroy, owner of an auction company in Paris, surrounded by sacred Hopi spirit masks.

CALIFORNIA---The foundation had never done something like this before — a repatriation effort — and the logistics were tricky, to say the least. More than 100 American Indian artifacts were about to go on sale at the Drouot auction house, including 24 pieces, resembling masks, that are held sacred by the Hopi of Arizona. Now the Annenberg Foundation decided to get involved from its offices in Los Angeles. It hoped to buy all of the Hopi artifacts, plus three more sought by the San Carlos Apaches, at the Dec. 9 sale and return them to the tribes. To prevent prices from rising, the foundation kept its plan a secret, even from the Hopis, in part to protect the tribe from potential disappointment. [link]

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Gallery Owner: Every Piece of Judaica Has a Story

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
By Donald Liebenson

Judaica from the Arthur M. Feldman Gallery

ILLINOIS---Part art gallery, part museum and part salon, the Arthur M. Feldman Gallery is back in business in Highland Park. The storefront location at 465 Roger Williams Ave. opened last month after Feldman previously operated a gallery of antiques, fine art and Judaica in downtown, first on St. Johns Avenue and then on Central Avenue. Feldman, a second-generation antiques dealer with degrees in art history and archaeology, served as director of the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. To continue educating the public, Feldman will present exhibitions under his banner Jewish Museum of Chicago. The first, a showing of commissioned Purim masks created by professional Chicago artists, is scheduled for March 2014. [link]

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Nevet Yitzhak Exhibit Peels Off the Prevailing View of 'Islamic Art’ as 'Monolithic and Mysterious'.

HAARETZ
By Galia Yahav

From 'Orient Express': Shows experts as genies returned to their bottle.

ISRAEL---One of the most wonderful aspects of “Orient Express,” the brilliant exhibition of works by Nevet Yitzhak at Jerusalem’s L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art, is the resounding answer she gives to the superficial, cliché-filled discourse on Islamic art. It is a discussion that defines Islamic art as a “rich, ancient, much respected culture” in a generalized manner that, as it declares the wealth of ancient Islam, presents Islamic art as homogeneous, monolithic and bereft of any nuances. [link]

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54 Days In The Eternal City: A Christian 'Pilgrimage' For Lent

NPR

Each year, millions of people from different faiths make religious journeys. They travel far, to Mecca, Jerusalem, the Ganges River or Lourdes, France, to walk the paths of prophets, saints and martyrs. “Pilgrimage is something built into the human condition,” says George Weigel, author of Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches. “There seems to be something hardwired into us, spiritually, that the idea of a journey from A to B becomes part of the rhythm of the spiritual life.” In Roman Pilgrimage, Weigel, with his photographer son Steven Weigel and art historian Elizabeth Lev, tells the story of a spiritual trek that takes place in the Eternal City each Lent and Easter.[link]

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Objects of beauty from ‘Mother Russia’ in North Carolina

THE HERALD SUN
By Blue Greenberg

The Durnovo Casket, silver gilt, enamel and sheets of lapis lazuli,
Firm of Ovchinnikov, Russia, 1889, now on view at the N.C. Museum of History.

NORTH CAROLINA---“Mother Russia” conjures up images of great writers; vast expanses of unbelievable cold; royal courts with tsars and tsarinas, the peasants or serfs, who were little more than slaves; the psychic Rasputin; the assassinations of the last tsar and his family; and the people’s devotion to the Eastern Orthodox Church. All this is part of the mystique surrounding this exhibition of more than 200 decorative and religious objects, which date from the first Romanov, Peter the Great (1672-1725), to Nicholas II (1868-1918), the last. [link]

North Carolina Museum of History: “The Tsar’s Cabinet: Two Hundred Years of Russian Decorative Arts under the Romanovs" and "Windows into Heaven: Russian Icons from the Lilly and Francis Robicsek Collection of Religious Art” (Ends March 5);  5 E. Edenton Street, Raleigh, North Carolina; 919-807-7900; ncdcr.gov/ncmoh

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Eastern Michigan University Students AMP Up the Arts

AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS

MICHIGAN---Students enrolled in Eastern Michigan University’s (EMU) Arts Management Programs (Undergraduate & Graduate) produce two-day music festivals, art competitions, face and body paint tailgating activities, art crawl events, and reality TV shows as part of an academic service learning project and student organizational activity designed to give members their first experiences as arts administrators. The Arts Management Project (AMP) is a yearly project undertaken by students of the Arts Management program at EMU. The project, which doubles as a student organization, produces arts-based events and creates opportunities for EMU’s student artists to present their talents to the campus community. [link]

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Bindu Accompanied by Hindi Verses Acquires Deeper Meanings of Life in Series ‘Shabd-bindu’

THE HINDU
By Anusha Parthasarathy

INDIA---In a recent interview, S.H. Raza says that he metaphorically never left India. And that his work has always encompassed his roots, delved within it and found meanings and answers. ‘Shabd-bindu’, which exhibits recent works by S.H. Raza and poetry by Ashok Vajpeyi is full of such artistic journeys. S.H. Raza, a legendary artist who has been living and painting in Paris for 60 years returned to Delhi recently. A recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, Fellowship of Lalit Kala Akademi, Kalidas Samman and other awards, he excels in bringing together Hindi verses and his world of colours. [link]

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Utah Art Exhibit Stretches the Definition of ‘Spiritual’

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
By Peggy Fletcher Stack


UTAH---You would, of course, expect to see lots of angels at a spiritual art exhibit — as well as Jesus, Madonnas, biblical figures, crosses, steeples, Hindu gods and Islamic prayer rugs. But birds, beggars, books, flying maps and beams of light? "You can find the sacred in nature and ordinary objects," says Rita Wright, curator at Springville Museum of Art’s annual "Spiritual & Religious Art of Utah Exhibition," where these works are on display. "We stretch the definition of ‘spiritual’ to include many images that are not conventional iconography." The show celebrates the experimental nature of younger artists, she says, who are trying to express their intuitive spirituality. [link]

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Crib Guide: in Search of the First Christmas-Card Nativity

THE GUARDIAN
By Jonathon Jones

Geertgen's Nativity at Night. Photograph: The Art Archive

UNITED KINGDOM---Recently, I started wondering: when was the first Noel in art? Botticelli's Mystic Nativity, a popular choice for Christmas cards that hangs in London's National Gallery, was painted half a millennium ago. But what is the world's oldest nativity scene? Where can you find the grandfather of all Christmas cards? So it was in Byzantium that sensitive, warm, human images of the nativity first appeared. So the simplest answer to my question is disappointing: aspects of the nativity have been depicted ever since there were Christians. Like the Magi following that star, this beautiful artistic tradition came from the east and was gratefully received by Europeans who have loved these winter pictures ever since. What a gift. [link]

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Turkish Fashion Label Wins Prestigious Jameel Islamic Art Prize

RUETERS
BY Freya Berry

Two of Dice Kayek's prize-winning dresses, inspired by architecture: "Dome 2" and "Hagia Sophia". Photo: courtesy of Dice Kayek Archive, Istanbul Contrast Collection

UNITED KINGDOM---The Turkish fashion label Dice Kayek on Tuesday won the Jameel prize at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, which honors contemporary art inspired by Islamic tradition. The 25,000-pound ($41,100) international prize, which is awarded every two years, has Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid as patron, and this year's judges included Thomas Heatherwick, designer of the London Olympic Cauldron. ice Kayek, a company begun by two sisters in 1992, took inspiration from the robes of Ottoman rulers and mosques to create the prize-winning structured dresses of lamé brocade and cotton. [link]

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Catholic Boy Blues...Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS 
By TAHLIB

INDIANA---A&O Prize honoree for Literary Arts, Norbert Krapf recently shared the cover of his upcoming book of poetry, "Catholic Boy Blues." In the image, there is beauty, but also a haunting quality. "It was taken by the priest who abused me!" he explained. "I found it and remembered it in 1997 after my mother died and I had to go through all her things. There are four poems in the book that reflect on the photo and his possible motivation(s) in giving that photo to my parents." Creating and sharing art is a struggle. Facing painful memories, just as Krapf has struggled is a Genesis opportunity for new birth. More details are available at www.krapfpoetry.com.

Prolog: Angel of Power and Protection
—Sculpture, Bridge to Vatican City, Rome—

What happens when the Angel
falls asleep after the mother
and father who held the baby
have to walk back into their lives

and the boy walks out into
the world and a servant
of God touches him wrong
when the parents aren’t looking?

By the time he is ready to
cross the bridge to Vatican City
his feet will not move forward
but turn in the opposite direction.

It is decades before he
can talk to the old God
by finding his own sacred places
and a new language for praying.

This poem, inspired by a Denis Kelly photograph,

opens Catholic Boy Blues: A Poet’s Journey of Healing,

forthcoming April 2014 from Greystone Publishing,

© 2011 Norbert Krapf

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013

Norbert & Katherine Krapf

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