The Metropolitan Museum of Art positions Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock as artistic peers.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous” presents Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock as artistic peers and life partners, arguing for Krasner’s equal place in Abstract Expressionism. The show comes more than 40 years after Krasner’s 1984 memorial was held at the Met. Krasner, born in Brooklyn in 1908, was among the most rigorously trained New York School painters, studying at Cooper Union, the National Academy of Design, and with Hans Hofmann. She worked on the WPA Federal Art Project and showed with the American Abstract Artists, where Piet Mondrian praised her “very strong inner rhythm.” She met Pollock in 1942, married him in 1945, and moved to East Hampton, where she developed her “Little Image” paintings and later her collages. Unlike many peers, she resisted a signature style, working in cycles and often destroying and reworking earlier pieces. After Pollock’s death in 1956, Krasner moved into his barn studio and entered one of her most productive periods, producing her “Night Journeys” and “Primary Series” while managing his estate.
The British Museum responds to Bayeux Tapestry crowds with longer opening hours.
The British Museum will extend opening hours for its Bayeux Tapestry exhibition after some visitors queued for up to two hours. A spokesperson called the public response extraordinary and acknowledged that queues had been longer than the museum wanted. Further details on the new hours are expected soon. The museum is also adding an audio guide, clearer signage, and extra seating. The audio guide follows a lawsuit filed last week by a blind visitor over the lack of audio description. The tapestry, which depicts the 1066 Norman invasion, is on loan while its museum in Normandy is renovated and will remain in London until July 11, 2027.
The Ashmolean Museum and the Samdani Art Foundation partner to bring Bangladeshi artists to Oxford.
Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum has partnered with the Samdani Art Foundation, the organization behind the Dhaka Art Summit, on a program to raise the profile of Bangladeshi art. The museum described it as the first sustained initiative of its kind. Under the partnership, the Ashmolean will host a Bangladeshi visiting artist each year and build a collection of contemporary work. Founded in 1683 and affiliated with the University of Oxford, the museum holds extensive South Asian collections. The Samdani Art Foundation was established in 2011 to promote Bangladeshi culture. The first visiting artist is photographer and filmmaker Munem Wasif, who plans to explore the colonial history of Bengal, a region spanning Bangladesh and present-day India and a recurring subject in his work. He said he wants to engage with objects firsthand and see how they connect to questions he has explored through photography, prints and textiles.
Jeff Koons to sell $100 million of his personal art collection at Christie’s.
Jeff Koons is selling nine paintings from his personal collection at Christie’s in November. The collection spans 500 years and includes works by Picasso, Manet, and Dutch Golden Age painter Cornelis van Haarlem, many bought during the late 2000s. The top lot is Picasso’s 1969 Le Baiser, estimated at around $40 million. Koons paid $17.4 million for it at Sotheby’s in 2008. Van Haarlem’s 1590 Heroes, which depicts Hercules battling the river god Achelous, is estimated at about $12 million after Koons bought it for $8.1 million the same year. In 2015, Koons adapted another van Haarlem painting for his “Gazing Ball” series.
Cyra Levenson to succeed Elaina Richardson at Yaddo after 26-year tenure.
Yaddo, the artists’ residency in Saratoga Springs, New York, has named Cyra Levenson its next president. Levenson, currently deputy director of learning and engagement at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, will start on November 16, succeeding Elaina Richardson, who is stepping down after 26 years. At the Guggenheim, Levenson sits on the executive team and established the museum’s first poet-in-residence program, collaborating with artists including Rashid Johnson, Nick Cave, and Cecilia Vicuña on programs involving musicians, dancers, actors and poets. She was previously a deputy director at the Cleveland Museum of Art and curator of education and academic outreach at the Yale Center for British Art. A visual artist herself, she has curated exhibitions ranging from Tibetan painting to slavery in 18th-century British portraiture. The board chose her from more than 200 candidates in a national search conducted with Russell Reynolds Associates.
Attractive Distractions:
MVRDV and Escofet launch colorful concrete modules for city streets.
JW Anderson transforms its Pimlico Road store into a gallery for Frieze Week.
Alexa Chung and Reformation debut a party-ready fall collection.
Jessica Helgerson packs science and wonder into a 538-square-foot Paris apartment.
