Art Collections a Click Away: $250 to $1,000

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By William Grimes

WASHINGTON---The company did not create Amazon Art to sell Impressionist masterpieces. As its representatives were quick to point out, 95 percent of the works offered cost less than $10,000. About a third of them cost between $250 and $1,000. To entice them, it conducted a far-reaching art dragnet, approaching galleries in the United States and a few foreign countries with a simple proposition: put your work on our site and, for a percentage commission on each sale, we will expose you to our 100 million customers in North America and 200 million customers worldwide. To date, the company has signed up more than 180 galleries and offers more than 43,000 two-dimensional works from about 4,500 artists. [link]

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Day of Giving to the Arts in Pittsburgh is Today! 24 Hours of Giving

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

PENNSYLVANIA---Pittsburgh is a national leader in the new trend of "Day of Giving" campaigns, and for 24-hours today (Thursday, October 3), the local arts council is encouraging arts supporters to give "generously to GPAC, the Office of Public Art, and all of your favorite arts and culture organizations that make Pittsburgh shine." The initiative: PittsburghGives is an initiative of The Pittsburgh Foundation, and the aim of this initiative is threefold: (1) Increase the level of knowledge about nonprofits in the region; (2) Leverage or increase individual funding or organizations or an issue in the community; and (3) to spotlight the charitable trends in the region. It's an opportunity to see where others are giving, and to for arts patrons and donors to remind their networks about the programs they feel are vital and needed. To give, visit: www.pittsburghgives.org.

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Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Hosts Exhibition of Pages of Quran

AHLUL BAYT NEWS AGENCY

MASSACHUSETTS---“Sacred Pages: Conversations about the Quran” offers visitors a way to broaden their understanding of the Quran, Islam, and Islamic art. Drawing upon the MFA’s rich collection of loose pages from Qurans dating from medieval to modern times, this exhibition showcases 25 examples, illustrating their significance as masterful and sacred works of art and exploring how these objects are understood by individual followers of Islam living in the Boston area today. The exhibition started on July 13, 2013 at E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Gallery (Gallery 178) and will remain open until February 23, 2014. [link]

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Manjari Sharma: Connecting Hindu Gods and Humans

THE NEW YORK TIMES | LENS BLOG
By JAMES ESTRIN

Photograph of Maa Laxmii, goddess of wealth

NEW YORK---In India, there is often little separation between religion and state, so paintings and other representations of Hindu gods are everywhere. But, of course, not photographs of the gods. At least until Ms. Sharma [Manjari Sharma] undertook her elaborate darshan project, enlisting dozens of artisans and craftspeople to create complex sets, costumes and prosthetics around a human posing as a deity. Each photo took weeks to make on a set in Mumbai. The resulting series, which is on view at the ClampArt Gallery in Manhattan, opened on Thursday and continues through Oct. 12. [link]

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London’s American-Style JCC Seeking Lead Role in Anglo Jewry ‘Renaissance’

JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY
By Cnaan Liphshiz

Models portraying Adam and Eve at the Genesis-themed opening of
London’s JW3 Jewish community center, Sept. 29, 2013. (Blake Ezra Photography)

PHILANTHROPY---Built with a one-time $56 million grant by a single donor, the philanthropist Vivien Duffield, daughter of the late business magnate Charles Clore, initiated the project after visiting the JCC in Manhattan a decade ago and deciding that London’s approximately 200,000 Jews also should have a one-stop shop for all things Jewish. The London center has space for a kindergarten, movie theater, sports facilities, kosher restaurant and a library. All that space requires a paying customer base, and for the past two years, JW3’s staff of 45 has been working to build one. A huge banner that says “JW3 The New Postcode for Jewish Life” hangs from the building’s facade. [link]

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The Scandalous Art of James Ensor at Getty Museum of Art Next Summer

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

"Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889"(

CALIFORNIA---Next summer, the Getty Center charts James Ensor's astonishing artistic development in the decade culminating with his avant-garde masterpiece, "Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889", a shockingly satirical indictment of modern Belgian society that is one of the museums major highlights. The exhibition presents more than thirty Ensor paintings from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, along with a rich selection of the artist's drawings and etchings from the Art Institute of Chicago, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, and several other key lenders.

 The Getty Center of Los Angeles: "The Scandalous Art of James Ensor" (June 10–August 31, 2014) 1200 Getty Center Drive Los Angeles, California; (310) 440-7300; getty.edu

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Rare, Recently Acquired Illuminated Manuscript of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah on View at Metropolitan Museum

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

The Mishneh Torah: Book of Judges (Sefer Shoftim). Written by Moses Maimonides (1135-1204). Painted by the Master of the Barbo Missal (active mid-1400s) North Italian, ca. 1457. Tempera and gold leaf on parchment. Photo © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, for Michael and Judy Steinhardt, by Ardon Bar- Hama.

NEW YORK---One of the finest illuminated Hebrew manuscripts ever created went on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on October 1. The rare 15th-century handwritten copy of the Mishneh Torah by the renowned medieval scholar Moses Maimonides will be shown in New York for the first time since it was acquired jointly by the Metropolitan Museum and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in April. Previously in the collection of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York, the manuscript will be exhibited at the two museums on a rotating basis.

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