Arcimboldo’s paintings as giant sculptures

Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s 16th century paintings of actual people, or of representations of seasons or elements, are entirely unique.  He constructed compositions of fruits, vegetables, trees, and other “ingredients” that somehow look like people – see Summer (1563) at left.  His creations have been sampled by many, many artists.

The latest case of Arcimboldo inspiration is seen in the work of artist/filmmaker Philip Haas, who has created giant sculptures based on the paintings of the Seasons.  At right is his version of Summer, which is made of fibreglass and is 15 feet tall.  They are currently on display at the New York Botanical Garden, and previously were on view in Milan.

Read more and see other sculptures at the NPR site.

Courtauld hosts Gothic Ivories Project

The Courtauld Institute of Art has launched the Gothic Ivories Project, an online database of over 2800 images of ivory sculptures made in Western Europe between ca. 1200-ca. 1530 (with some neo-Gothic pieces as well). Search specifics, browse works by keyword, location and type, or visit the informational pages for site tips and tools. Additionally, when you become a registered user you can create private or public image folders of your favorite works. Many objects have multiple views and extensive entries.

Invention and Tradition: The Art of Southeastern Nigeria

Herbert “Skip” Cole, UCSB Professor Emeritus of African Art, has announced a new publication Invention and Tradition: The Art of Southeastern Nigeria (Prestel Press). The book “celebrates and explores the sculpture and masks of the many diverse ethnic groups living in Southeastern Nigeria.”

For other faculty publication posts, click here and here.

Fisk University and the Stieglitz Collection: The final ruling

We’ve had a couple of updates in the last six months, but this week the final decision was announced: The Tennessee Supreme Court denied the application of the Tennessee Attorney General to hear an appeal of the decision of the Court of Appeals to permit Fisk’s Alfred C. Stieglitz Art Collection to be shared with the new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art located in Arkansas. This means the university can move ahead with working out the logistics of the deal, which includes the museum paying $30 million for a half interest of the Collection.

For previous posts, click here.

Update: Christo’s “Over the River” overcomes a hurdle

A couple of years ago we posted a story about how Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “Over the River,” a project where the artists would drape material over parts of the Arkansas River in Colorado, faced local and potentially national opposition. The New York Times reports that Christo (collaborator and wife Jeanne-Claude has since passed away) received an important green light from the U.S. Department of the Interior (see their statement here). Local permits are still needed and may delay or derail it.

Modern sculpture ruined by “overzealous cleaner”

Oops.

Martin Kippenberger’s When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling (Wenn’s anfängt durch die Decke zu tropfen), on loan from a private collector to Museum Ostwall in Dortmund, suffered an attack motivated by … a strong work ethic. Upon noticing what appeared to be grime in part of the sculpture, a cleaner apparently thought all it needed was a good scrubbing. Unfortunately, it had been deliberately-placed paint to represent dried rainwater and the sculpture is “now impossible to return it to its original state.”

via The Guardian

Ara Pacis Augustae in pictures and words

Charles S. Rhyne, Professor Emeritus of Art History at Reed College, has created a new website dedicated to the visual and historiographical study of the ancient Roman monument Ara Pacis Augustae. In his preface, Professor Rhyne explains that the site’s objective is “to make available a more comprehensive body of images of the Ara Pacis than previously available in any print or web publication.” Offered into 10 languages and with numerous images, the website also has a section with useful tips.

Latest additions to ARTstor

ARTstor has added these collections to the Digital Library:

• Fowler Museum, UCLA: 717 images from the permanent collection, with a focus on Africa
• Richard F. Brush Art Gallery (St. Lawrence University): 196 images of African textiles, contemporary Inuit prints and drawings, and Vietnam War-era photography
• Colby College Museum: 2,463 images from the permanent collection, especially American artists and particularly painter Alex Katz (this is 95% of the total 2,477 expected images)
• The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD): 1,142 images from the Visual Resources Collection

There are also two collection agreements to announce. Sara N. James, professor at Mary Baldwin College, will contribute 614 field images of European architecture and sculpture and Rob Linrothe, professor at Northwestern University, will share an additional 3,000 field images of Tibetan, Chinese, and Indian monuments and architecture.

Last chance for an audience with a goddess

Patrons visiting the Getty Villa in Malibu have until this Sunday to view the ancient Greek “Cult Statue of a Goddess”. Her trip back to Sicily in January is a piece of a “cultural collaboration” with the Sicilian government to return objects that had been sold to the Getty under questionable circumstances. The Villa’s current display of “The Agrigento Youth” through April 19 is the collaboration’s inaugural loan from Sicilian museums to the Getty.

via L.A. Times

Online database for art looted by Nazis

More than 20,000 works of art were plundered in Germany-occupied France and Belgium from 1940 to 1944. These works, meticulously documented during the war by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), can searched and researched via a new online database. The database combines records from the U.S. National Archives in College Park (MD), the German Bundesarchiv in Koblenz, and records from the French government.

via artdaily.org