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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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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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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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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U.S. Foundation Buys Sacred Native American Masks to Return to the Hopi Nation

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
By David Ng

A Hopi mask that was being sold by the Paris auction house Eve as part of a sale of Native American objects on Monday.

CALIFORNIA---The Annenberg Foundation has revealed that it was an anonymous bidder that paid $530,000 for 24 Native American artifacts that were being sold at a controversial auction in Paris earlier this week. The Los Angeles-based charitable organization headed by Wallis Annenberg said that it will return the artifacts to the Hopi Nation and to the San Carlos Apache tribe. Monday's controversial sale took place several months after another French auction house sold 70 Native American artifacts despite international criticism. Neret-Minet Tessier & Sarrou sold the objects at an April auction for a total of €930,000 ($675,479). [link]

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'The Vatican: All The Paintings' Book Opens Up Religious Art Of The Vatican Museum

THE HUFFINGTON POST

Raphael: Raphael Rooms, The School of Athens

VATICAN CITY---A new book by Anja Grebe celebrates the stunning art collection of the Vatican by featuring every Old Master painting on display. "The Vatican: All The Paintings" also includes images of sculptures, maps, and tapestries which span centuries of artistic genius. [link]

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More Hopi Masks to be Auctioned in France, Despite United States Government Efforts

ARTDAILY

FRANCE---A Paris auction of sacred objects from the Hopi and San Carlos Apache Native American tribes will "probably" go ahead despite US objections, the auctioneer said on Sunday. A number of ceremonial masks and head-dresses are due to go under the hammer at the EVE auction house on Monday after the failure of a legal challenge by advocacy group Survival International. The battle is a rerun of one earlier this year in which French firm Neret-Minet ignored international appeals to halt the sale of some 70 masks that eventually fetched around 930,000 euros ($1.3 million). [link]

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French Fall-Out Over Restoration of Isenheim Altarpiece

THE ART NEWSPAPERBy Vincent Noce

The Isenheim Altarpiece has been dismantled and moved because work is being carried out on the museum’s chapel

FRANCE---The unorthodox and unauthorised restoration in 2011 of a 16th-­century masterpiece, housed until recently in Colmar’s Musée Unterlinden, has divided experts and highlighted some glaring gaps in France’s management of its art treasures. The debate revolves around Mathias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece, which has been compared to the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. Created in the 1520s for the Antonite monastery, a ­hospice in nearby Isenheim for plague victims and sick peasants, the altarpiece is formed of seven painted wooden wings, folded around a gilded reliquary carved in Strasbourg by the sculptor Niclaus of Haguenau. [link]

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Survey shows 'bullying' of Christian employees in Arts

THE WAY
By Amanda Hopkins

UNITED KINGDOM---The Federation of Entertainment Unions recently surveyed over 4,000 workers in the creative arts and media industry, the results of the report revealed that most Christian employees experienced faith-based discrimination. Christian Concern noted 56 per cent of participants had experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination in the work place. The survey was conducted amongst and included some household names and high profile figures in the UK. Workers who were a victim to this discrimination believed it was fuelled by their religious beliefs. [link]

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Francesco Vezzoli’s Italian Church Art Is Halted on Its Way to NYC's PS1

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ted Loos and Gaia Pianigiani

The church packed for its planned trip to New York.

ITALY---It was a typically elaborate, provocative move by the Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli in a career full of them: He had contracted to buy the ruins of an old deconsecrated church in the southern Italian town of Montegiordano and had planned to ship them to New York, brick by brick, for exhibition in the courtyard of MoMA PS1. But “The Church of Vezzoli,” as the exhibition was to be called, was canceled Monday in the midst of a legal imbroglio in Italy. The MoMA PS1 show was meant to be the third leg of “The Trinity,” a multicity retrospective of Mr. Vezzoli’s work. [link]

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Where St. Nicholas Has His Black Pete(s), Charges of Racism Follow

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By John Tagliabue

St. Nicholas in Amsterdam on Sunday with his Black Petes, whom critics denounce as racist caricatures. 

AMSTERDAM---St. Nicholas entered Amsterdam twice this weekend. On Sunday morning, astride a tall white horse and clad in the red-and-gold cloak and miter of a bishop, to the cheers of tens of thousands of children and their parents, he paraded into the center of town accompanied by his faithful servant, Black Peter. Another St. Nicholas arrived on Saturday afternoon. He sat quietly on a makeshift stage in a tiny square near the Stock Exchange, dreadlocks flowing from under his gold-and-red miter, but without Black Pete. For if Black Peter is a white Netherlander in blackface, this St. Nicholas was a member of the country’s small black minority, and he was presiding at a demonstration by several hundred people, black and white, denouncing Black Pete as racist. [link]

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Modern And Ancient Afghan Art And Design In Ferozkoh in UK

LONDONIST
By Tabish Khan

"Ferozkoh: Tradition and Continuaty in Afghan Art" at Leighton House Museum

UNITED KINGDOM---Nestled away in Kensington is Leighton House Museum, the house of noted Victorian artist Frederic Leighton and awash with Asian and Middle Eastern trappings that he acquired on his travels. This makes it the ideal location for a display of both classical and contemporary Islamic art, fresh from being exhibited in Qatar. There are statues and wall hangings scattered throughout the house that blend in with their surroundings plus a room filled with a comparative exhibition where each contemporary artwork sits alongside a classical one. [link]

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Restored Rome Catacomb Frescoes Add to Debate on Women Priests

RUETERS
By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY---Proponents of a female priesthood say frescoes in the newly restored Catacombs of Priscilla prove there were women priests in early Christianity. The Vatican says such assertions are sensationalist "fairy tales". Art lovers and the curious around the world who cannot get to Rome can join the debate by using a virtual visit to the underground labyrinth by Google Maps, a first-time venture mixing antiquity and modern high technology. The Catacombs of Priscilla are also famous for a fresco which experts believe is the oldest known image of the Madonna and Child, dating to about 230 AD. Lost for centuries after its entrances were sealed in ancient time, the catacombs were re-discovered in the 16th century and plundered of many gravestones, sarcophagi and bodies. Excavations in modern times began in the 19th century. [link]

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Nude Artworks Censored In Berlin Due To Religious Sensitivity

THE HUFFINGTON POST

Photograph of nude work by Berlin artist Susanne Schueffel

GERMANY---A recent incident of art censorship in Berlin has sparked a debate about the difference between art and pornography, as well as the importance of artistic freedom versus religious sensitivity. According to the American Foreign Press, an adult education center removed a series of six nude paintings in an attempt to acknowledge and respect Muslim religious beliefs. The school's deputy head feared the works may shock Muslim students and prevent them from attending class. Due to an outpour of criticism the decision has been revoked and the paintings restored, although now they hang next to the public toilets. [link]

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Vatican to Display Bones of St. Peter for the First Time

RELIGION NEWS SERVICE 
By Eric J. Lyman

"Crucifixion of Saint Peter" (1601) by Caravaggio 

VATICAN---The Vatican said it would display for the first time bones believed to be the mortal remains of St. Peter, the leader of Jesus’ 12 apostles, to mark the end of the Year of Faith, Nov. 24. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, wrote in Monday’s editions of L’Osservatore Romano, that the Catholic faithful making a pilgrimage to St. Peter’s tomb to mark the end of the Year of Faith will enjoy “the exposition … of the relics traditionally recognized as those of the apostle who gave his life for the Lord on this spot.” [link]

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British Artist Traces Graffiti's Muslim Roots

THE ART NEWSPAPER
By Anny Shaw

Mohammed Ali, a muralist from Birmingham who goes by the name of Aerosol Arabic,
presented a short, unconventional history of graffiti beginning with a 13th-century Muslim artist

UNITED KINGDOM---A two-day festival and exhibition of art, music and poetry by Muslim artists or artists celebrating Islamic culture closed in East London on 31 October. Part of the World Islamic Economic Forum, which was held this year for the first time in a non-Muslim country, MOCAfest (Marketplace of Creative Arts) brought together 30 artists from around the world, including several graffiti artists. Qasim Arif Illm, a calligraphy artist from the Netherlands, exhibited canvases that fuse Arabic scripts with graffiti lettering, while Mohammed Ali, a muralist from Birmingham who goes by the name of Aerosol Arabic, showed paintings inspired equally by the Quran and the New York subway art movement of the early 1980s. [link]

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Chicago Philanthropist’s Gift to Aid Studies of Southeast Asia

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Kimko de Freytas-Tamura

UNITED KINGDOM---An American philanthropist and major donor to President Obama’s campaign and Democratic causes has given £20 million (about $32 million) to London’s School of Oriental and African Studies to support research into Buddhist and Hindu art in Southeast Asia. The donation will help fund 80 scholarships for students from the region, add three new chairs and help expand the school campus, according to a statement from the Alphawood Foundation, presided over by the donor, Fred Eychaner. The school, part of the University of London, specializes in humanities and languages from Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Eychaner is a Chicago-based media baron who in 2009 studied for a post-graduate degree at the school. [link]

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Scenes of Adultery & Racism Set Visually to Music

THE ROOT
By Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

The Story of the Adulterous Moor, from Las Cantigas de Santa Maria, 13th century. Cantiga CLXXXV. Escorial, Real Monasterio.

SPAIN---Among the most revealing insights into the devotional culture of medieval Spain are the cantigas, a type of monophonic music. A large corpus of this distinctive song form was composed during the 13th century at the court of Alfonso X, called the Wise, ruler of the Spanish kingdom of Castile. A visual dimension is added to these works in the form of illustrated narrative pages facing the text of the song. The stories are, as in this example, usually divided into six scenes, each headed by a short descriptive text based on the lyrics of the songs. The event illustrated here relates the predicament of a woman falsely accused of adultery by her mother-in-law. The unwilling agent of the fraud is the mouro, or Moor, a servant of the mother-in-law. [link]

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The Städel Museum Presents Albrecht Dürer's Art in Context

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

"St. Jerome in His Study" by Albrecht Dürer

NETHERLANDS---From October to 2 February 2, 2014, the Städel Museum presents "Albrecht Dürer: His Art in Context" (1471–1528) – presumably the most important artist of the German Renaissance – in a comprehensive special exhibition (Watch video). The show encompasses more than 280 works, including some 200 by Dürer himself. Now an internationally celebrated artist, Dürer was held in high esteem and received several commissions there. In Antwerp, for example, he painted "St Jerome in His Study" (1521, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon). An entire room on the upper floor is dedicated to juxtaposing the various depictions of St Jerome. [link]

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