The shape of things to come
Worldwide courts have consistently recognized the right of owners to the return of artwork which has been looted by governments and dictatorships, confiscated, sold and re-sold.
It has taken in some cases several decades for the artwork to return to the familial descendants of the original and rightful owners, but essentially international law is pretty clear on the subject that generally no government can confiscate private property.
There are, of course, many dictatorships worldwide where one of the foundations of those regimes is that private citizens under their yoke cannot own private property.
It occurred to me recently that when the current Cuban dictatorship took control of that unfortunate island on January 1, 1959, one of the first things that they did after they executed thousands of people, burned and banned books, jailed all political opposition, and closed down newspapers and magazines, was to confiscate most private property.
And there was a lot of artwork confiscated in Cuba.
We've been led to believe that in 1959 Cuba was just another Latin American cesspool, but the facts are that in 1959 Cuba had one of the highest standards of living of any nation in the Americas and a higher per capita income than several European nations and higher than Japan, as well as a positive immigration flow from Europe to Cuba, as well as the third highest protein consumption in the Western Hemisphere. Today the island's food rations are actually lower than the slave rations mandated by the Spanish King in 1842.
The island also had the lowest infant mortality rate in Latin America and the 13th lowest in the world, ranked ahead of France, West Germany, Belgium, Japan, Austria, Italy and Spain. The average wage of a Cuban worker was higher than for workers in West Germany, France, Denmark and Belgium and in the late 50s Cuban labor received 66.6 per cent of the nation's GNP, again higher than several European nations (the US figure is 68%). And the 8 hour week was mandated by law in Cuba in 1933, five years before FDR's New Deal got to doing it in the US. And in the 1950s, 44% of Cubans were covered by social legislation, a higher percent than the US at that time.
And while we've been led to also believe that Cuban peasants and farm workers lived in a near feudal state, the average farm wage in Cuba in 1959 ($3.00 a day) was higher than those of farm workers in France ($2.73), Belgium ($2.70), Denmark ($2.74) or Germany ($2.73). In the US it was $4.06. And in 1959 only 34% of the Cuban population was rural and the nation had the lowest inflation rate in the Americas, 1.4% - the US was at 2.73%
So this was not a nation mired in poverty, as we have been led to believe, but a nation under the yoke of a very brutal dictator in the person of Fulgencio Batista.
The very wealthy Cuban upper and business class hated Batista and became the financial backers of the Castro Revolution, raising millions of dollars for the rebels. They also owned many art masterpieces from both European and Latin American masters.
As a thank you, nearly all of this work was confiscated by the Castro dictatorship and by 1961 most of the best work had made its way to government-owned museums and collections, and most of the owners had made their way to the United States in the largest proportional mass exodus in contemporary history.
When the abomination known as the Soviet Union collapsed in the 90s and Cuba's sugar daddy stopped sending billions of dollars in subsidy to the Castro brothers, the Cuban economy collapsed, and one of the results of that collapse was the mass selling, by the Cuban government, of those confiscated masterpieces, most of which found their way to European museums and European and Asian private collections via French auction houses. Thus many masterpieces once owned by the Fanjul family, or the Bacardi family, or by sugar magnate Julio Lobo (whose interest in Napoleonic memorabilia led to him amassing one of the world's largest collections of Bonaparte memorabilia such as weapons, furniture, paintings, letters, etc.) were sold to European museums and collectors.
But now I think that the end of the brutal Castro dictatorship is nigh, and one day soon, when the rule of law and democracy and freedom returns to Cuba, one of the first things that the descendants of those families should do is to go after whoever now possesses their families' stolen artwork and goods, and in some cases even copyrights.
And the details of these illegal sales have left bloody footprints. For example, according to Maritza Beato's excellent article in El Nuevo Herald titled "El Saqueo del Patrimonio Cultural Cubano" (The Looting of the Cuban Cultural Patrimony), the sale of the Julio Lobo Napoleonic collection to a French museum was orchestrated by a French official attached to the French Embassy in Havana. His name is Antoine Anvil.
And if I was one of those auction houses or museums in Europe or collectors or dealers around the world, I'd be a little nervous.
What goes around comes around.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Jury Duty
I just finished jurying the next exhibition for the D'Art Center in Norfolk, Virginia and it was a very pleasant (and hard work) surprise to find some many really excellent 3D entries in this national show.
Mark Miltz. The Game. Sculptural Installation
Usually when there's a call for artists, the 3D genre is under-represented in the submissions, but in this particular exhibition, several hundred artists from all over the country submitted work, and there were several outstanding sculptural entries.
Tonight I will award about $3,500 in award prizes.
Lesley Hildreth. Hares, multiplying like rabbits while waiting for the tortoise. Clay
Sunday, February 15, 2009
DCist Exposed
DCist will offer the third annual DCist Exposed photography show running February 20 to March 7, 2009. DCist is partnering with the Gallery at Flashpoint to exhibit nearly 50 amateur and professional photographers chosen from more than 300 entrants who submitted their work through Flickr.com. A free opening reception will be held Friday, February 20, 2009 from 5 to 9 pm at the Gallery at Flashpoint.
Flashpoint is located at 916 G Street NW, in Washington, DC's bustling Penn Quarter neighborhood. The 2007 and 2008 DCist Exposed events saw over 500 people attend each opening night, with lines forming around the block and a ton of photographs sold because of their superb quality and extreme affordability.
DCist is also bringing back last year's special event for emerging collectors, Emerge Exposed, on Tuesday, March 3 from 7 to 9 pm at Flashpoint's Mead Theater Lab. Co-hosted by DCist, Flashpoint and the Pink Line Project, a panel of experts will share tips and ideas on how to begin collecting art. There will be a $10 suggested donation at the door for Emerge Exposed. The panel will be moderated by The Pink Line Project Chief Creative Contrarian Philippa P.B. Hughes and will be comprised of FotoweekDC Founder and Chrome Imaging President Theo Adamstein, Photographer Jason Horowitz, Collector and Jackson Design Group Principle Veronica Jackson and Corcoran Gallery of Art Senior Curator of Photography and Media Arts Paul Roth. For more information: Call 202.315.1310 or visit flashpointdc.org.
Opportunity for Artists
Deadline: February 23, 09, 5pm.
The City of St. Helens Arts & Cultural Commission is seeking proposals from artists interested in creating decorative street banners as part of its new multi-phase Gallery Corridor project. The first phase of the project includes artist-designed and created aluminum banners to be mounted on poles and placed along Old Portland Road, Columbia Blvd. and Gable Rd. in St. Helens. Artists selected to participate will be awarded $1,000 for their work and be provided with a 2’ by 6’ aluminum sheets, donated for the project by Pacific Stainless Products in St. Helens.
Contact: Kathy Payne, City Recorder, City of St. Helens, P.O. Box 278, St. Helens, OR 97051.
For more information about the project, contact John Walter at 503.397.4544. Requests for Proposals can be found on the City’s website at www.ci.st-helens.or.us, or can be requested by phone at 503.366.8218.
Museum Circus
A Circus Family: Picasso to Léger, on view at The Baltimore Museum of Art February 22–May 17, 2009, features more than 80 prints, drawings, paintings, and books by Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Fernand Léger, and other European artists fascinated by the extravagant spectacle of the circus and the bohemian lives of the performers outside the ring. This special ticketed exhibition brings together major works from museums and private collections to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the circus during its heyday as a form of popular entertainment.Details here.
Opportunity for Artists
Deadline: March 27, 2009 (postmark).
The Fine Arts League of Cary is seeking entries for its 15th Annual Juried Art Exhibition to be held from May 8th to June 27th, 2009 in Cary/Raleigh, NC. Show awards and purchase awards will total over $5,000. Entries can only be mailed via CD. The postmark deadline for the mail-in registration is March 27, 2009. I will be the juror for this show.
Full details and a printable prospectus are available
on the web at www.fineartsleagueofcary.org or call Kathryn Cook at 919-345-0681.
Fair Use Redux
The Stuckists, a group of anti-conceptual artist-activists that is the anti-thesis to Britain's Turner Prize exhibitions and award ceremonies, have opened their own online store, selling objects inspired by Damien Hirst and other uberartists works. Stuckists Jamie Reid (who designed graphics for the punk band the Sex Pistols), James Cauty and Billy Childish have produced a range of prints “recreated from random pixels found on the Interweb” and other products satirizing Hirst’s diamond skull and works by the Chapman Brothers and the urban artist D*Face.
“An exact copy of an image similar to an image of Hirst’s “For the Love of God,”’ from a numbered edition of 1,300, is priced at 13 pounds, said the Web site.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Corcoran's Fine Art Photography Thesis Exhibitions - next 4 weeks!
This is how you spot the jewels early on... go visit some of these shows:
Corcoran School fo Art Fine Art Photography Senior Thesis Exhibitions: February 15 – March 15
Gallery 31 (entrance on New York Avenue)
February 18–22: Fine Art Photography Senior Thesis I
Reception: Thursday, February 19, 5–8 p.m., North Atrium
February 25–March 1: Fine Art Photography Senior Thesis II
Reception: Thursday, February 26, 5–8 p.m., North Atrium
March 4–8: Fine Art Photography Senior Thesis III
Reception: Thursday, March 5, 5–8 p.m., North Atrium
March 11–15: Fine Art Photography Senior Thesis IV
Reception: Thursday, March 12, 5–8 p.m., North Atrium
Details here.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Life Has Not Even Begun
Prayer for Obama I (detail), 2008, Polaroid prints by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
One of the most important artists to emerge from post-Revolutionary Cuba, María Magdalena Campos-Pons creates multimedia installations, large-scale Polaroids, sculpture, painting and performance that investigate history and memory, and their roles in the formation of identity. Drawing from her personal narrative as an Afro-Cuban woman living in the United States, Campos-Pons’ work transcends individual experience to explore crosscultural, universal phenomenon. Issues such as cultural hybridity, displacement, ties to family and home, and the dualities present in each individual are themes that continue to permeate her work.
In this new body of work, Life Has Not Even Begun captures the anticipation and tension inherent in exploring the unknown. From the artist re-discovering her Chinese ancestry, to her intensive study of midnight-blooming flowers, to the unexposed horrors of war, to the future of an imagined peaceful world, each work in this exhibition makes its own unexpected revelation.
Life Has Not Even Begun is curated by Neysa Page-Lieberman. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies this exhibition at the Glass Curtain Gallery at Columbia College Chicago (1104 South Wabash Ave., 1st Floor, Chicago, IL 60605). The exhibition goes through March 6, 2009.
Vagina Monologues at Theatre Widener
One of the great benefits of living in any area with lots and lots of universities and colleges (like DC or Philly) is the terrific and affordable opportunities to enjoy the theatre and the visual arts at most of them.
Because I live so close to Widener University, I go to a lot of their plays and have nearly always been impressed by them, although I did get one harsh email once from a director (when I was a little tough on a particular play).
Theatre Widener at Chester, Pennsylvania's Widener University is currently producing The Vagina Monologues, the well-traveled Obie Award winning play by Eve Ensler that has been raising eyebrows and making people laugh and cry for over a decade.
The Vagina Monologues has been described as a "hilarious and poignant tour of the last frontier, the 'Ultimate Forbidden Zone.'" At is core, to many people it is often just a very diverse and entertaining celebration of female sexuality. Eve Ensler now classic play delivers real women's stories of the most intimate nature, sometimes funny, often revealing a surprising vulnerability, and nearly always some sort of sexual self discovery.
The Widener production is directed by Bohdan Senkow, the Director of Theatre Widener, and this production features an outstanding cast that includes Heather Astorga and Lauren Greenberg, two undergraduate seniors, Lisa Eckley-Cocchiarale, a staff member who directs the Widener Fresh Baked Theatre Company, and Roni Cibischino, Shanna Tedeschi, and Jennifer Woo, three graduate students from Widener University's Human Sexuality program.
All six performed superbly at opening night, and Senkow made some great choices in the assignment of individual monologues to specific actors, and the chemistry between them was palpable and added a very positive effect to the overall production. This is not your typical play, there's no plot or music and a very austere set, so the production's success is almost all based on the actors' ability to grab your attention with their stories and interaction with each other.
Cibischino and Greenberg were terrific and nearly flawless in their delivery and interpretations of their specific monologues and Lisa Eckley Cocchiarale had the audience cracking up from the beginning. Jen Woo easily had the hardest and most difficult monologues, especially the one dealing with the "C word," which she delivered in a funny and valiant performance.
Shanna Tedeschi was also surperb and often very funny, especially when she donned a hat and scarf and related an old lady's experiences with her "down there."
Also superb was Heather Astorga, who delivered two of the most moving monologues of the evening, one dealing with wartime rape and another with a young woman's discovery of her sexuality. For some constructive criticism, the very pretty Ms. Astorga should refrain from biting her cheeks during her colleages' monologues. I suspect that she's not aware that she's doing it (neither is this writer when he does it), but it is very distracting once you see her doing it in the background of someone else's monologue.
Profits from this very well done production will be contributed to support organizations that combat abuse against women.
The Vagina Monologues opened on Thursday, February 12 and will be presented on Friday and Saturday, February 13, 14 at 7:30pm, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, February 19, 20, 21 at 7:30 and Sunday February 22 at 2:00pm. Widener Students and Staff are invited free of charge, Staff Guests are just $8. Adults are $15 and Non-Widener Students are just $8. To make reservations please call Theatre Widener at 610-499-4364.
Theatre Widener is at 15th and Potter Streets at Widener University in Chester, PA.
The Fifth Annual Bethesda Painting Awards
Deadline: Submissions must be received by Friday, February 20, 2009
The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the fifth annual Bethesda Painting Awards. Eight Finalists will be selected to display their work in an exhibition from June 3-July 4, 2009 at the Fraser Gallery in downtown Bethesda, and the top four winners will receive $14,000 in prize monies.
Best in Show will be awarded $10,000; Second Place will be honored with $2,000 and Third Place will receive $1,000. Additionally, a “Young Artist” whose birthday is after February 20, 1979 may be awarded $1,000. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D paintings including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. The maximum dimensions should not exceed 60 inches in width or 84 inches in height. No reproductions.
Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibition. Each artist must submit 5 slides, application and a non-refundable fee of $25. Digital entries will be accepted on CD in JPG, GIF or PNG format.
For a complete application, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Bethesda Painting Awards, c/o Bethesda Urban Partnership, 7700 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD. 20814, visit www.bethesda.org or call 301/215-6660.
Arts get their cut
Just moments ago, the U.S. House of Representatives approved their final version of the Economic Recovery bill by a vote of 246-183. We can now confirm that the package does include $50 million in direct support for the arts through the National Endowment for the Arts grants. The exclusionary Coburn Amendment language banning certain arts groups from receiving any other economic recovery funds has also been removed. Tonight the Senate is scheduled to have their final vote, and President Obama plans to sign the bill on Monday - President's Day.
We all hope that these art funds make their way down to artists and are not swallowed up by art burocrats lest I rat on them and have them sitting in front of Barney on the same seats still warm from all those banking moguls.
Artomatic 2009: Tenth Year!
Time for DC area art critics to roll their eyes: Artomatic is back!
The tenth version of the massive art shows that artists, collectors, gallerists and the public loves and most DC art critics hate (but would love if it took place in NYC, or Berlin or London) will deliver over five weeks of art, music, theatre, workshops and more this year in Washington, DC's Capitol Riverfront neighborhood from May 29 - July 5.
The 2009 Artomatic will be held at 55 M Street, S.E. - atop the Navy Yard Metro - celebrating its tenth anniversary in a newly built 275,000 square foot "LEED Silver Class A building", whatever that means.
Registration for Artomatic 2009 will begin in March, and is open to all artists - including painters, photographers, sculptors, graphic designers, musicians, poets, actors and dancers. Artomatic is an unjuried open event, so all artists are welcome and that is precisely the reason that makes Artomatic great and unique and precisely the reason that most art critics, art writers and some art bloggers hate it, in their odd need to have art shows curated, trimmed and ruled.
Held regularly since 1999, Artomatic transforms an unfinished building space into an exciting arts event that is free and open to the public. In addition to displays by hundreds of artists, the event features free films, educational presentations and children's activities, as well as music, dance, poetry, theater and other performances.
Artomatic 2008 attracted a record-breaking 52,500 visitors and 1,540 participating artists. Visit their Flickr site to see over 4,000 photos captured at Artomatic 2008 or check out the below video.
Who will be the emerging art star of this AOM?
Who will be the artist who cracks us up?
Will "The Collector" make a comeback?
Who will be the prima donna?
Congrats!
The Washington Project for the Arts has selected my good friend Jack Rasmussen as the 2009 recipient of the Alice Denney Award for Support of Contemporary Art.
The award will be presented on Thursday, February 26, 2009, at 6:30 pm during the WPA Auction Preview Night event in the Abramson Family Recital Hall at American University’s Katzen Arts Center.
The event is free and open to the public but a RSVP is requested by February 25 to (202)234-7103x4 or aatkinson@wpadc.org.
Rasmussen's work as curator and director of the beautiful Katzen Museum has been nothing short of spectacular and a lesson on how a museum can combine local, regional and international shows.
A well done to Jack!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Five-Year Plan
Don't worry, the Soviet Union is not making a comeback; this five year plan is the District's thinkologists trying to assemble one and Heather Goss has the skinny here.
WPA Auction
The Washington Project for the Arts 2009 Art Auction Gala is Saturday, March 7, 2009 at the Katzen Arts Center at the American University. The Auction Preview Night is Thursday, February 26 from 6:30 pm to 9 pm. Details here.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Lawsuits all over the place
The street artist Shepard Fairey has filed a lawsuit against The Associated Press, asking a judge to declare that he is protected from copyright infringement claims in his use of a news photograph as the basis for a now ubiquitous image of President Barack ObamaRead about it here.
