Ancient Ritual Bronzes Grace a Museum Reopening in Massachusetts

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Randy Kennedy

An ancient container for cowrie shells with yaks sculpted on the lid,
in “Cast for Eternity” at the Clark Institute. Credit Shanghai Museum

MASSACHUSETTS---The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, which recently completed a 12-year, $145 million expansion project including new buildings by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando and renovations by the German-born architect Annabelle Selldorf, has reopened its doors in Williamstown, Mass., just in time for the great summer exodus of urban art pilgrims. “Cast for Eternity: Ancient Ritual Bronzes From the Shanghai Museum,” continuing through Sept. 21, features 32 elaborately decorated vessels and bells from China’s Bronze Age, the first of a series of exchanges between the Clark and the Shanghai institution. [link]

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute: "Cast for Eternity: Ancient Ritual Bronzes From the Shanghai Museum," (Ends September 21); 225 South Street Williamstown, Massachusetts; (413) 458-2303; clarkart.edu

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Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Transfers Eight Illicitly Trafficked Antiquities to Nigeria

ARTDAILY

Head, Nok peoples. African, Nok peoples, Nigeria, About 500 BC–200 AD. Ceramic; terracotta.

MASSACHUSETTS---The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has reached an agreement with the National Commission of Museums and Monuments, Nigeria (NCMM), transferring to the Commission eight antiquities of Nigerian origin that are believed to have been the subject of illicit trafficking. The antiquities include two Nok terracotta figures and a terracotta Ife head, archaeological materials that are known to be at high risk for theft and looting. The group also includes an ekpu, or ancestral figure dating to the 18th or 19th century, which was part of the collection of the Oron Museum, near Calabar, Nigeria, as late as the 1970s; and a bronze altar figure of about 1914, which was likely stolen from the Royal Palace in Benin City in 1976. [link]

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Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Returns Art Works to Nigeria

ARTBEAT | NYTIMES
By Tom Mashberg

MASSACHUSETTS---The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has returned eight works of art to Nigeria after determining that the documentation accompanying some of the items, six of which were bequeathed in early 2013 by a prominent donor and collector, was suspect or fraudulent. The repatriated antiquities include two Nok terracotta figures and a terracotta head, items known to be at high risk for theft; a wooden ancestral figure from the 18th or 19th century known as an ekpu, which disappeared from a Nigerian museum in the 1970s; an elaborate bronze altar figure of a warrior from the 1910s, which was likely stolen from the Royal Palace in Benin City in 1976; two terracotta heads from the Kingdom of Benin, and a group of three figures made of wood and fiber known as Kalabari. [link]

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Brazilian Artists (Twins) Cover Air Intake Structure With Whimscial Covered Woman in Boston

RADIO BOSTON

Brazil's Os Gêmeos converted structure into whimsical character in Boston

MASSACHUSETTS---Boston’s burgeoning arts scene will get a boost when Mayor Marty Walsh appoints a new cabinet-level Arts and Cultural Affairs Commissioner this summer. Os Gêmeos, two Brazilian twins who are famous for being at the forefront of Brazilian street art, have their first US solo show at the ICA in Boston. As part of the exhibit, they converted an air intake structure into this whimsical and colorful character on the Greenway in Boston, MA. So what should the city’s new Arts Czar do to foster creativity in Boston and make it a more vital city of the arts?  [link]

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Samba Spirit at MFA, Boston, With Exhibition of Afro Brazilian Art

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

Works by 20th-Century Artists from Brazil Debut in New England

MASSACHUSETTS—For the first time in its history, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), presents a selection of works by 20th-century Brazilian artists of mostly African descent in "Samba Spirit: Modern Afro Brazilian Art." The exhibition includes 15 paintings and one work on paper by key artists including Heitor dos Prazeres, Maria Auxiliadoro da Silva and Waldemiro de Deus, as well as two sculptures by Agnaldo Manoel Dos Santos. Rarely studied in the United States, these artists drew on a range of traditions and found inspiration in all aspects of Brazilian culture—religious rituals, urban and rural life, music and dance.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: "Samba Spirit: Modern Afro Brazilian Art" (Ends Oct. 19); Avenue of the Arts | 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA; (617)267-9300; mfa.org

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