Bold, whimsical lines and color travel across the canvases in Nedret Andre’s exhibit at Chestnut Hill’s Hess Galley. Stormy blues and fiery corals swirl and collide into each other, creating abstract forms and shapes. Andre’s oil paintings in the collection “Seagrass: Ecological Engineers” delve into the ethereal world of one of the most quickly deteriorating ecosystems on the planet—seagrass. When snorkeling, Andre witnessed this flowering plant thriving off of the sunlight cascading into the waters, giving life to thousands of sea creatures with its production of carbon for food and its safe habitat. This plant so vital to the health of coral reefs and estuaries unfortunately experiences the loss of two football fields worth each hour due to industrial fishing, invasive species and pollution. Andre captures the fragility, interconnectedness and enchantment of seagrass in “Bridge to … [Read more...] about Under the Surface: Nedret Andre’s ‘Seagrass: Ecological Engineers’ at Hess
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ARE WE NEARING THE FINAL CHAPTER IN DA VINCI’S ‘SALVATOR MUNDI’ STORY?
No one knows the whereabouts of the most expensive painting ever sold, but it won’t be the first time the painting has disappeared and resurfaced. Let’s recount the history and mystery of this Dan Brown-like saga: “Salvator Mundi”, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, was commissioned by Louis XII of France in 1506. It took da Vinci seven years to complete the painting, making late 1512 the year of its arrival in England. It was brought to England by Henrietta Maria upon her marriage to Charles I in 1625. She kept it at the Queen’s House in Greenwich until it was sold to John Stone, a mason in 1651 when, following Charles I’s execution in 1649, it was returned to his inheritor, James II of England in 1660. It then went to his mistress, Catherine, Duchess of Dorchester whose illegitimate daughter’s illegitimate son, Sir Charles Sheffield, 1st baronet, auctioned it in 1763. It disappeared from … [Read more...] about ARE WE NEARING THE FINAL CHAPTER IN DA VINCI’S ‘SALVATOR MUNDI’ STORY?
COMMENTARY/NATIONAL NEWS: MARY BOONE GALLERY CLOSING; OWNER SENTENCED
New York, NY - Mary Boone’s two New York galleries will close in April, due to the January 18 sentencing of Ms. Boone to 30 months in prison and 180 hours of subsequent community service, the shortest prison term recommended by the prosecution. The date for her incarceration was postponed until May 15. As she has repaid the Internal Revenue Service more than six million dollars in fines and restitution, no additional penalties were imposed. Her conviction of two counts of tax fraud specifically named misrepresenting purchases and falsifying transactions, with Manhattan district attorney Geoffrey Berman saying that her “personal tax returns were more a work of impressionism than realism.” She used part of the gallery’s unreported income to fund her son’s education. Jerry Saltz, Ai Wei Wei, Julian Schnabel, Jeffrey Deitch and Jack Shainman were among the 100 letter writers vouching for her … [Read more...] about COMMENTARY/NATIONAL NEWS: MARY BOONE GALLERY CLOSING; OWNER SENTENCED
A VISIT TO THE EMBASSY OF IRELAND AND THE RESIDENCE OF THE IRISH AMBASSADOR, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Washington, D.C. - The government shutdown of United States government institutions, including museums, during the end of last year and start of 2019, encouraged me to find the best art then available for free, public viewing in Washington, D.C. Ministerial visits at the Irish embassy prevented me from seeing the collection during February, but Ms. Siobhan Miley kindly arranged a visit in early March. It was worth the wait. The Embassy of Ireland’s site was purchased by Henrietta Halliday in 1906, with the mansion built by architect William Penn Cresson between 1908 and 1909. The semi-detached limestone building at 2234 Massachusetts Avenue NW, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Sheridan Circle, was purchased by the government of Ireland in 1949. From my first visit at Passport DC, an annual tour, open to the public, of EU embassies during a May weekend, and other … [Read more...] about A VISIT TO THE EMBASSY OF IRELAND AND THE RESIDENCE OF THE IRISH AMBASSADOR, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Vessels of Change: Julia Galloway’s Endangered Species Project at Gallery 224
Allston, MA - We are constantly plugged into our cellphones, computers, and tablets, watching the world through a screen and living our busy lives that we may become disconnected with nature. We may forget that we are a part of it and just as vulnerable as birds, moths, fish and turtles endangered by habitat loss from urbanization, overfishing or pollution, side effects of an industrial world. Within Julia Galloway’s new exhibition, “The Endangered Species Project: New England,” at Harvard University’s Gallery 224, nature confronts visitors. Through 305 handmade porcelain urns on tables and shelved on the walls, Galloway’s art creates a space of reflection and memorialization of endangered and extinct species of each state in New England. They are brought together and individually remembered on vessels traditionally used to hold cremated ashes. As a Bostonian, now living and teaching … [Read more...] about Vessels of Change: Julia Galloway’s Endangered Species Project at Gallery 224
BOSTON LYRIC OPERA’S ‘THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA’
Excellence can seem such a simple achievement. Merely assemble practiced, solid parts such as singer/actors, music and libretto (on a timeless theme) and put them on a stage-in-the-round so all their virtues wrap the audience in easy accessibility — not to mention three electronic boards with the dialogue raised high so it’s readable from every angle — and continue, for the duration, to stay out of the way, for goodness sake, until the play is done! Actually, there is some meddling with this simple formula which is so professional that one barely notices, but feels, the enhancements it delivers, while watching Benjamin Britten’s new Boston Lyric Opera production of “The Rape of Lucretia.” Three toughs who also happen to be aristocrats occupy a steep flight of stairs at stage rear of the opening scene. Between battles with a Greek army threatening Rome, they are contemplating what … [Read more...] about BOSTON LYRIC OPERA’S ‘THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA’