Syrian gunmen break political cartoonist Ali Ferzat’s hands as ‘warning’

BEIRUT (AP).- A renowned political cartoonist whose drawings expressed Syrians’ frustrated hopes for change was grabbed after he left his studio early Thursday and beaten by masked gunmen who broke his hands and dumped him on a road outside Damascus. One of Syria’s most famous artists, Ali Ferzat, 60, earned international recognition and the respect of many Arabs with stinging caricatures that infuriated dictators including Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi and, particularly in recent months, Syria’s autocratic Assad family. He [...]

Crowds at Bowdoin museum for Edward Hopper’s Maine

BRUNSWICK, ME (AP).- An exhibit of Edward Hopper’s paintings of Maine is breaking attendance records at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, but it’s just one of three top-notch shows at museums around Maine this summer and fall. Combine a trip to see all three — the others are an Andrew Wyeth show at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland and a 1930s photography exhibit at Colby College in Waterville — with shopping in Freeport, the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in [...]

MF Husain masterpieces highlight Christie’s sale of South Asian modern + contemporary art

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Christie’s is pleased to announce the Fall sale of South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art, taking place on September 13. The sale will present a magnificent array of works from the 20th and 21st centuries, featuring works by renowned modernists including Syed Haider Raza, Francis Newton Souza and Tyeb Mehta. Also featured in the sale are several works by the late Maqbool Fida Husain, who passed away in June 2011. As a tribute to the master, Christie’s has secured [...]

Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art debuts multi-media hub on its website

KANSAS CITY, MO.- A multi-media hub of the Nelson-Atkins website has launched. Studio 33 features videos, audio entries, interactive content and social media portals that allow visitors to learn about a favorite work of art, respond to a Museum blog post, listen to artists discuss their creative process and discover more about exhibitions and special programs. But Studio 33 is not a static entity; it will continually grow and evolve to accommodate various platforms. A mobile-friendly device version is also in the works [...]

New Works by Austrian artist Markus Schinwald on view at Kunstverein Hanover

HANOVER.- Markus Schinwald (born 1973), whose complex on-site installations have most recently been on show at theMigros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Zurich (2008), the Kunsthaus Bregenz (2009) and the Kunsthalle Budapest (2009), is among the most distinguished Austrian artists of his generation. Since the late nineteen nineties, the human body as the projection screen of individual existence and as a cultural construct has been at the center of the works by Salzburg-born Schinwald who lives in Vienna and Los Angeles. Central features [...]

Monumental new sculpture project transforms Governors Island: Man in the City sculpture by John Sauve

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Governors Island received a significant addition to their public art collection. Since August 22, the artist John Sauvé has been on site at the island to supervise the installation of “Man in the City”; one of his monumental new works. “Man in the City” is comprised of several dozen sculptures located throughout the island and will have an overwhelming impact on the Governors Island landscape. Sauvé is known for using steel to make monumental forms. Working with his team [...]

Art Taipei 2011 provides a platform to view the latest in international contemporary art

TAIPEI.- Art Taipei, formerly known as Taipei Art Fair International, is the longest-standing art fair in Asia. It has been organized by Taiwan Art Gallery Association since 1992. The 18th annual event, Art Taipei 2011, will be held during 26th to 29th August, 2011, at Taipei World Trade Center. The most important link for trading Chinese and Asian arts Art Taipei is the most experienced and professional platform for trading Chinese and Asian arts. The art market in Taiwan has become [...]

Major exhibition on the genesis of the Italian portrait opens at the Bode Museum in Berlin

BERLIN.- The Gemäldegalerie— National Museums in Berlin and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, have joined forces in organizing a major exhibition on the genesis of the Italian portrait. For Berlin, the Bode Museum presents itself as the ideal location to hold such an exhibition: on its opening in 1904, it was conceived by its founder, Wilhelm von Bode, as a ‘Renaissance Museum’ on the Museum Island. The Bode Museum will host the first stage of the exhibition, running from 25 [...]

Scholar and Curator Douglas Druick named new Art Institute of Chicago Director

CHICAGO, IL.- Tom Pritzker, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Art Institute of Chicago, announced today that Douglas Druick has been selected as the new President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago . Druick, the chair of two of the museum’s eleven curatorial departments, is an internationally recognized scholar and curator who has been serving as the acting president and director of the museum since the departure of James Cuno in June 2011. Druick has [...]

International Center of Photography Director to transition to new executive role

NEW YORK, N.Y.- The International Center of Photography (ICP) announced today that Willis E. Hartshorn, its Ehrenkranz Director, has informed ICP’s Board of Trustees of his desire, for health reasons, to transition to a different full-time executive role in the institution. Consequently, ICP’s Board has formed a Search Committee which has retained Russell Reynolds Associates to conduct an international search for a new Director to lead the institution. Mr. Hartshorn, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, will continue in his current role [...]

Carlito Carvalhosa makes his North American museum debut with the monumental installation Sum of Days

NEW YORK, N.Y.- The Museum of Modern Art presents Carlito Carvalhosa: Sum of Days, a large scale environmental and participatory sound installation that is on view in MoMA’s Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium, from August 24 to November 14, 2011. Constructed from soft, white, translucent material that hangs 60 feet from the ceiling to the floor, this monumental, voluminous installation takes the shape of an elliptical labyrinth through which Museum visitors are invited to walk. Sum of Days marks the North [...]

Museum of Latin American Art appoints Stuart A. Ashman as new President and CEO

LONG BEACH, CA.- Mike Deovlet and Burke Gumbiner, Co-Chairmen of the Museum of Latin American Art’s Board of Directors, announced the appointment today of Stuart A. Ashman as MOLAA’s President and CEO. His appointment is the result of a six-month international search and his tenure will begin on September 6, 2011. Ashman joins MOLAA at an exciting time, as the museum’s 15th anniversary draws to a close. Driven primarily by an evolving and strengthened artistic direction over the last two years, MOLAA [...]

Art Museum Partnership announces program for 2011 Directors Forum conference

NEW YORK, N.Y.- The Art Museum Partnership has just released the program for The 2011 Directors Forum conference. Leaders of art museums from across the nation will gather in New York City on Sunday, October 23 – Tuesday, October 25 for an extraordinary program. The 2011 Directors Forum Conference This fall museums leaders from across the nation will meet in New York City on Sunday, October 23 – Tuesday, October 25 for the 2011 Directors Forum. Art. No other professional conference offers this [...]

As Europe marks the 20th anniversary of the Soviet collapse, Bulgaria opens museum of socialist art

SOFIA (AP).- Giant statues of Soviet dictators Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin. Paintings of enthusiastic socialist laborers. A huge red star that graced Communist Party headquarters. As Europe marks the 20th anniversary of the Soviet collapse, this nation that’s still shaking off its troubled communist legacy is opening a museum dedicated to the totalitarian past. A debate’s raging on whether the museum romanticizes the Soviet era or teaches new generations about its horrors. Other former communist countries like the Czech Republic [...]

119 objects of Kentucky Art donated to Speed Art Museum

LOUISVILLE, KY.- The Speed Art Museum announced one of the most important gifts in the history of the Museum and the largest donation of Kentucky art ever received by the Speed. Given by Robert and Norma Noe, this extensive collection includes 119 examples of early Kentucky furniture, paintings, silhouettes, textiles, ceramics, and silver. Artworks from the Noe Collection are currently on view in the exhibition Kentucky Antiques from the Noe Collection: A Gift to the Commonwealth. Dr. Charles L. Venable, Speed Director and [...]