The Forgotten Jewish Painter, Salomon Adler

JEWISH JOURNAL 
By Milad Doroudian

Self-portrait of the German painter Salomon Adler (1630-1709). Exposed in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts

GERMANY---[Salomon] Adler lived in a period when Judaism in Europe was still clinging to rigid lines of conservatism. Most Jews held on to the idea that any art or imagery not related to the Tanakh was idolatrous and prohibited by the Second Commandment. As a result of this many Jews did not publicly dwell in the arts, in fear of angering their communities. Adler was one of the first secular Jewish artists to have opened the door for Jews who wished to break away from rigid conservatism to the realization  of liberal Jewish artistry. He, and the few others like him, were in essence the beginning of Jewish secular artistry in European form prior to the granting of mass emancipation to Jews. [link]

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Fitzwilliam Museum Bids to Acquire Weeping Virgin by Spanish Sculptor Pedro de Mena

ARTDAILY

Pedro de Mena (1628-1688), The Virgin of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa), about 1670-5.

UNITED KINGDOM---A remarkably realistic painted wood bust of the Mater Dolorosa (Virgin of Sorrows) by Pedro de Mena (1628-1688), one of the most celebrated sculptors of the Spanish Golden Age, has gone on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge as part of an appeal to acquire the sculpture. It was most likely created for the private chapel, study or bedchamber of a devout patron, and would almost certainly have been protected under a glass dome and originally paired with a similarly-sized bust of the Ecce Homo (Christ as the Man of Sorrows). The Fitzwilliam Museum has already raised a substantial amount towards the work (including £30,000 from the Art Fund and £10,000 from The Henry Moore Foundation) but needs to secure a further £85,000 by the end of September 2014 in order to acquire the remarkable bust. [link]

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Roman Convent’s Profane Frescoes Restored

ARTNET NEWS
By Sarah Cascone

The profane frescoes at the Santi Quattro Coronati, Rome. Photo: courtesy the Santi Quattro Coronati.

ITALY---For the first time ever, the public will have the opportunity to view the profane medieval frescoes of Rome’s Santi Quattro Coronate basilica, rediscovered during the course of a decade-long conservation project that started in 1996, reports the Art Newspaper. The Santi Quattro Coronate paintings, which date to the 13th century, are significant as the country’s most important cycle of profane medieval frescoes. It’s no “Nikasitimos was here mounting Timiona,” as reads the world’s oldest erotic graffiti (recently reported by artnet News), but the subject matter is still pretty daring for a group of medieval nuns. [link]

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Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin: Bible Mashers

THE TELEGRAPH
By Lucy Davies

Holy Bible by Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin

UNITED KINGDOM---There are 788,258 words in the King James Bible. How many people can claim to have read every one of them in a single attempt? Two years ago, over a 12-month period, the artists Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin did just that. The pair began the Holy Bible project by underlining sentences in the text that referred to image-making. “It made me nauseous to be surrounded by so many graphic images,” admits Chanarin. “But also curious. The Bible is so violent, but there’s something acceptable about it. We’re more at ease with violent words than violent pictures.” [link]

'Broomberg & Chanarin: Divine Violence' is at Mostyn, Llandudno, Wales, from July 19; mostyn.org 

Chapter and Verse: A spread from Ezekiel in 'Holy Bible'

'Exodus' from Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin’s new collage work, 'Holy Bible’

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Saint Wilgefortis is a Popular Figure of the Religious Imagination

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

Saint Wilgefortis in the Museum of the Diocese Graz-Seckau in Graz, Austria, 18th century

AUSTRIA---Some of the most fascinating Christian art stories get shared weekly on "Jesus In Love," a popular gay Christian art blog. Each week, there is something new to astound me. Recently, I read about a 14th century bearded-lady who was also a Roman Catholic Saint: "Legend says that Wilgefortis was the teenage Christian daughter of a king in medieval Portugal. She had taken a vow of chastity, but her father ordered her to marry a pagan king. She resisted the unwelcome marriage by praying to be made repulsive to her fiancé. God answered her prayers when she grew a beard. Unfortunately her father got so angry that he had her crucified and Wilgefortis joined the ranks of virgin martyrs." [link]

“Santa Wilgefortis” from “Queer Santas” series by Alma Lopez

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Siddiqa Juma is Featured in Dubai's Celebration of Contemporary Islamic Art for Ramadan

THE NATIONAL
By Hareth A. Bustani

"Diversity" by Siddiqa Juma is one of the works on show at Emaar Pavilion. Courtesy Ahlan Art Gallery, London

DUBAI---This Ramadan, Dubai celebrates the spirit of modern Islam with an international contemporary Islamic art exhibition – in the heart of its urban Downtown area. The collection, from the London-based Ahlan Art gallery, has taken residence at Emaar Pavilion’s the Gallery, and its Ramadan tent. Hassan Mawji, the co-founder of Ahlan Art and the charity Mount Elimu, welcomes Ahlan Art’s first exhibition at the venue. Mawji says the piece to look out for is the one right by the entrance – "Diversity," by Siddiqa Juma. The image depicts the Ka’aba, surrounded by a sea of different coloured dots. Diversity celebrates the way in which Muslims from across the world are brought together for the Haj pilgrimage, a microcosm of the Muslim community at large. [link]

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Florence Museum Concludes Major Exhibition by Mannerist Painter Pontormo

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS 
By TAHLIB

"Visitation" from the parish church of St. Michael in Carmignano

ITALY---The major exhibition, "Pontormo and Rosso. Diverging Paths of Mannerism," attracted 150,000 visitors according to Artdaily. The artist Pontormo, also known as Jacopo Carucci (May 24, 1494 – January 2, 1557) was an Italian Mannerist painter. His work represents a stylistic shift from the calm perspectival regularity that characterized the art of the Florentine Renaissance. He is famous for his use of twining poses, coupled with ambiguous perspective. His figures often seem to float in an uncertain environment, unhampered by the forces of gravity. The exhibition ended on July 20, 2014 at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.

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London's Heritage Art Gallery Pays Homage to World War I Sikh Soldiers

ANIN NEWS

UNITED KINGDOM---The UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA) paid homage to World War I Sikh soldiers through an art exhibition organized in London commemorating their remarkable but largely forgotten contribution. The story of Sikh soldiers volunteered in World War I (WWI) is being showcased through original artefacts that include unpublished photographs, drawings, newspapers, comics, postcards, stunning works of art, uniforms, gallantry medals, and folk songs sung by the wives left at home. The exhibition titled “Empire, Faith and War: The Sikhs and World War One” is being held at the Brunei Gallery in London. Project Historian of the UK Punjab Heritage Association, Parmjit Singh, said the exhibition puts together the tales of Sikhs soldiers who fought in Great War and the stories of families they left behind. [link]

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To Some Dismay, Italy Enlists Corporate Medicis to Repair Monuments

THE NEW YORK TIMES 
By Gaia Pianigiani and Jim Yardley

A restoration of the Colosseum in Rome has been financed by the Italian luxury group Tod's

ITALY---Since early July, workers have been carefully unscrewing the steel scaffolding that for months has obscured much of the ancient facade of the Colosseum. Slowly, this monolithic symbol of Rome is coming into view again after the first portion of a 25 million euro ($34 million) refurbishment that underscores how Italy is coming to rely on private aid to preserve national treasures. “Our doors are wide open for all the philanthropists and donors who want to tie their name to an Italian monument,” Italy’s culture minister, Dario Franceschini, said in a telephone interview. “We have a long list, as our heritage offers endless options, from small countryside churches to the Colosseum. [link]

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The Crucible,’ by Arthur Miller, Plays at London's Old Vic Theatre

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ben Brantley

"The Crucible," at the Old Vic in London, stars Richard Armitage, right, as John Proctor. Credit Johan Persson

UNITED KINGDOM---The Puritan torturers who try to break the spirit of John Proctor, the honor-bound hero of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” have nothing on the devastating revival of that play that recently opened at the Old Vic. As directed by Yael Farber, this three-and-a-half-hour production applies unrelieved pressure to your nerves — and, it would seem, muscles that include the heart — until you’re a submissive puddle of pity and terror. In doing so, Ms. Farber makes the most convincing case that I’ve encountered for the greatness of this 1953 drama about the Salem witch trials, a longtime staple of American high school reading lists and community theaters. [link]

“The Crucible” continues through Sept. 13 at the Old Vic in London; oldvictheatre.com. 

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New Rainbow Crucifix and Rainbow Madonna Unveiled by Richard Stott

JESUS IN LOVE BLOG
By Kittredge Cherry

“Solidarity” by Richard Stott (Photo by Rebecca Litchfield)

UNITED KINGDOM---Rainbow clothing gives a queer quality to Jesus and his mother Mary in new paintings by gay British artist and minister Richard Stott. The two rainbow Christian images made their debut recently as part of the exhibit “Sacred Stories of the Body: Gender, Sexuality and Spirituality” in the United Kingdom. It was on display during May and June in the gallery at 35 Chapel Walk in Sheffield, England. The show featured five artists with a range of sexual identities and religious traditions. [link]

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Acropolis Maidens Glow Anew: Caryatid Statues, Restored at Athens Museum

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Liz Alderman

The Caryatids at the Acropolis Museum.

GREECE---For 2,500 years, the six sisters stood unflinching atop the Acropolis, as the fires of war blazed around them, bullets nicked their robes, and bombs scarred their curvaceous bodies. Their initial function was to prop up a part of the Erechtheion, the sacred temple near the Parthenon that paid homage to the first kings of Athens and the Greek gods Athena and Poseidon. The Caryatids’ origins were less poetic: According to one legend, Mr. Pantermalis said, the statuesque maidens were not intended to be glorified, but condemned to stand in penance at the temple for eternity to atone for an ancient treachery committed by their hometown, Caryae, a Greek city near Sparta that took the side of the Persians against the Greeks during the Peloponnesian War. Other historians say young women from the city who danced for the goddess Artemis were inspirations. [link]

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Last chance to see 'Pontormo and Rosso: Diverging Paths of Mannerism' at Palazzo Strozzi

ARTDAILY

Jacopo Carrucci, known as Pontormo (1494-1557), Portrait of a Bishop (Monsignor Niccolò Ardinghelli?), c. 1541-1542. Oil on panel; 102 x 78.9 cm. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.83

ITALY---Palazzo Strozzi’s major exhibition entitled "Pontormo and Rosso: Diverging Paths of Mannerism" is devoted to the work of the two painters who were, without question, the most original and unconventional adepts of the new way of interpreting art in the Italian Cinquecento which Giorgio Vasari called the “modern manner”. This landmark exhibition has brought together for the first time a selection of some 80 works – paintings, frescoes, drawings and tapestries – accounting for 70% of the artists’ output. [link]

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Atlanta's High Museum to Celebrate Cathedral's Art With Children's Choirs

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

Luca della Robbia (Italian, 1399/1400-1482) Trumpeters and Young Girls Dancing, 1431-1438
Marble From the Collection of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence Photo: Scala / Art Resource, NY

GEORGIA---Atlanta's High Museum of Art is planning an extensive music program to accompany its upcoming exhibition "Make a Joyful Noise" of Renaissance Art and Music at Florence Cathedral. The exhibition opens on October 25, 2014 features three marble panels from this Renaissance masterpiece which will travel to the U.S. for the first time. In the 1430s, many many important art commissions were awarded to Florence's Cathedral to fill the church's vast interior. Included among these was Luca della Robbia's famed and beautiful organ loft, known today as the Cantoria, or singing gallery. TheHigh will exhibit these works in the musical environment in which they were originally created by presenting them with luxurious hand decorated choir books and a lectern designed to display them.

High Museum of Art: "Make A Joyful Noise" Renaissance Art and Music at Florence Cathedral, (October 25, 2014-January 11, 2015); 1280 Peachtree Street, N.E. Atlanta, GA; (404) 733-4400; high.org

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European Court Upholds France's Burqa Ban

NPR: TWO-WAY
By Krishnadev Calamur

A woman wearing a niqab eats on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, on June 26, 2012. 

FRANCE---The European Court of Human Rights has upheld France's ban on face-covering veils, in a closely watched case that was brought by a Muslim woman who said the law violated her freedom of religion. But on Tuesday the court ruled that France's ban was legitimate because it was "proportionate to the aim pursued, namely the preservation of the conditions of 'living together' " of all French citizens. Under the law, women wearing the face-covering veil can be fined up to 150 euros (about $200) and/or be made to attend a class on citizenship. Critics say the ban targets Muslims and Islam. [link]

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Despite Legal Challenges, Sale of Hopi Religious Artifacts Continues in France

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ton Mashberg

A view of three Hopi masks from Arizona during a Paris auction in December 2013. 

FRANCE---Prompted by another large sale on Friday of American Indian religious items — the fourth such auction in the past 18 months — embassy officials invited an American judge, who is herself a member of the Hopi tribe, to explain to government officials, art dealers, academics and lawyers why treating spiritual objects as commodities is insulting and sacrilegious. The embassy’s efforts did not pay off last week despite two legal challenges to the auction, which included 29 vibrant Hopi spiritual headdresses and masklike items, known as Katsinam, that are treated as living entities by the tribe. [link]

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Art Review: Marsden Hartley Gets His Due in Berlin

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Roberta Smith

"The Warriors" (1913) by Marden Hartley

GERMANY---Before Jasper Johns or Jackson Pollock, there was Marsden Hartley, America’s first great modern painter of the 20th century. He achieved this distinction in Paris and most of all in Berlin between early 1912 and late 1915. These canvases are memorials to Karl von Freyburg, the young German officer — possibly the great love of Hartley’s life — who was killed in the first weeks of World War I. Hartley’s world-class status is confirmed by “Marsden Hartley: The German Paintings, 1913-1915,” an exhibition at the Neue Nationalgalerie here that should thrill and surprise even the most devoted Hartley fan. [link]

The exhibition in Berlin ended on June 29, but will travel only to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in August. It should however be traveling to every state where same-sex marriage is in debate including Indiana where his reinterpretation of the Three Kings hangs as "The Friends."

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Opera Review: Where Passion Rules, Morality Stands Little Chance

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM

L’Incoronazione di Poppea In a new Robert Wilson production of this Monteverdi opera, singers recreate the tale of a mistress who wants to be empress. After a run in Paris, the work will continue in Milan early next year.

FRANCE---Nero and Poppea never touch in Robert Wilson’s new production of Monteverdi’s “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” for the Paris Opera, which ends its run at the Palais Garnier on Monday. Their love affair, which drives anyone who gets in its way to death or exile, is one of the most violent portrayed in opera. The tension between the frosty beauty of Mr. Wilson’s production and the simmering passions of its characters is disconcerting at first. What Mr. Wilson offers is a geometry lesson in human passions. In Monteverdi’s opera, the historical events are introduced as a test of strength between Amor, Virtue and Fortune, which Amor is determined to win. The libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello reflects the very Venetian bent for intellectual contrarianism on the margins of the religious conformity of his time in the 17th century. [link]

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German Film "Stations of the Cross" Explores Religious Extremism And Value of Faith

LIST FILM
By Paul Gallagher

Stations of the Cross (Kreuzweg)

This deliberate, meaty, provocative drama brilliantly uses the structure and form of religious art to deconstruct the damaging effects of religious indoctrination. Through 14 sections, each consisting of just one take, shot from a fixed camera position (with two significant exceptions), director Dietrich Brüggemann charts several significant days in the life of Maria, a teenage member of the Priestly Society of St. Paul, a strict Vatican II-denying branch of Catholicism. Each section takes the title of one of the Stations of the Cross – the 14 markers of Jesus’ Passion as defined by Catholic tradition – making Maria an explicit parallel to Christ; a parallel that becomes more poignant and devastating as the film develops. Yet while heavily critiquing the destructive power of heavy-handed religious structures, the film also asks searching questions about the value of Christian faith, and the potentially miraculous power of sacrifice. [link]

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Qatar Emir Seeks to Transform Spanish Bullring Into Mosque

WORLD BULLETIN

The planned mosque would be the third-largest in the world outside Mecca and Medina.

SPAIN---Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the ruling Emir of Qatar, has reportedly offered to invest $2.99 billion over 5 years to convert Barcelona's Monumental bullring into a 40,000-capacity mosque which would be the biggest in Europe. The planned mosque would be the third-largest in the world outside Mecca and Medina, featuring a 300m minaret and would include a conference hall, a 300-capacity Quran study center and a museum of Islamic art and history. [link]

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