Category: visual

Last week the institution opened a major retrospective of the iconoclastic Argentine artist León Ferrari, whose work often riffs subversively on Christian imagery. Within a few days, the Asociación Española de Abogados Cristianos filed a legal action against Manuel Borja-Villel, the museum’s director, arguing that the show “insult[s] Jesus” and “mocks the Gospel.” – ARTnews

The experiences of enslaved people were not always deemed important enough to record for posterity, and the glimpses that have been preserved are often distorted by interventions of enslavers. We are left to wonder: Who are they? What were their names? What were their favorite colors? Why did they choose to be photographed on these particular occasions? Why did they style themselves in these ways? – Guernica

Retitled “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture,” it begins with a paean to “beautiful public architecture,” before moving on to a litany of disapproval aimed at modernist federal buildings. – NPR

Hopes for the two long-discussed projects appeared crushed earlier this month when Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) blocked the legislation that would have authorized them. But other lawmakers managed to get that bill attached to the omnibus spending and relief measure passed late Monday night. – The Washington Post

Authorities seized the trove, which includes coins and jewelry from ancient Rome, bracelets and similar items from the Bronze and Iron Ages, and metal objects from the European Middle Ages, from a Frenchman in Belgium who claims he had found the objects in his apple orchard. Customs officials in both countries say they were probably smuggled from France. – Artnet

Sheldon Solow, a New York real estate tycoon who had one of the best private colelctions of 20th-century art, died last month. Auction houses in crisis since the pandemic began wonder if the collection will go on the market – or become a private museum. – The New York Times

That’s right, an astronaut. Italian and other Catholic media have not been kind. But, says a ceramics teacher from Castelli, Abruzzo, where the original crèche figures were made: “It is rich in symbols and signifiers that offer a non-traditional reading of the Nativity scene.” – Hyperallergic

How to preserve the murals, protest slogans, and art painted mostly on plywood this summer? At Minneapolis’ George Floyd Square, a caretaker says, “Each piece holds within itself the energy of the uprising, of the person who wrote that letter or who drew that painting or who crafts that sculpture or picked out that rock or laid that t-shirt or their helmet or that plant or that flower. … So every piece is sacred!” – NPR

Announced in 2012, supposed to open in 2017, and … what now? “Setbacks have included sparring architects, the discovery of mastodon fossils by excavation crews, a budget that ballooned by roughly 90 percent, the ouster of its founding director and now, for the second time, the coronavirus pandemic.” – The New York Times

“On Thursday, the French Senate blocked a bill that would bring 26 statues back to Benin and a sword from West Africa to Senegal. Then, the National Assembly, which has the power to rule on matters on which the Senate cannot reach a consensus, decided that the plan must move forward, putting France on track to repatriate the objects within a year.” This after the Senate unanimously approved the plan last month. – ARTnews