Latest news with #AmericanArt
Wall Street Journal
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
10 Masterpieces to Celebrate This 4th of July Weekend
The American experiment has inspired artists for over two centuries. Stirring songs, historical paintings, commemorative statues and other works salute our nation's enduring legacy and ever-evolving identity. Below, a collection of essays highlight the relationship between American artistry and patriotism. The song is simple: dignified and foursquare; patriotic, not chauvinistic; full of love, but not sloppily sentimental. Berlin called it 'an expression of my feeling toward the country to which I owe what I have and what I am.' For him, the national and the personal were the same thing. (He donated all the song's royalties to the Boy and Girl Scouts of America.)
New York Times
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Politics Looms Over the World's Biggest Contemporary Art Fair
At the V.I.P. opening of Art Basel in Switzerland on Tuesday morning, American gallerists were greeted with three kisses on the cheek — and hushed questions about the man in the White House. European collectors and museum leaders wanted to know how Los Angeles artists were responding to the arrival of military troops on their streets during the administration's efforts to control anti-deportation protests. Could the Smithsonian Institution maintain its independence from the federal government? Should they delete social media before trying to enter the United States for a gallery visit? And will international museums continue their policy of lending art to American institutions? 'You can time your watch that there is always a tragedy before, during or after Art Basel,' said Iwan Wirth, the president and co-founder of Hauser & Wirth, one of the largest galleries in the world. 'It is a bubble the art world dives into, but there is still uncertainty.' That uncertainty picked up shortly after President Trump's inauguration in January, starting with executive orders that banned diversity initiatives at federally funded organizations. Since then, the White House has attempted to overhaul the Smithsonian, successfully removed the director of the National Portrait Gallery and cut millions of dollars in arts funding, telling administrators that federal support was being redirected to 'projects that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity.' But the greatest effect on the ultrawealthy who come to one of the world's most important fairs for contemporary and modern art is the uncertainty around the threat of tariffs and the weakening of the dollar, according to interviews with more than a dozen art specialists. There were few major American collectors seen at the art fair's previews on Tuesday, and several of Basel's luxury hotels had rare vacancies that suggested smaller audiences and a growing regionalism in the art market. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
John Middleton's art collection to be featured in 2-museum show in Philadelphia for U.S.'s 250th anniversary
Phillies managing partner John Middleton, famous for spending "stupid money" on superstars, and his family will contribute more than 120 paintings and pieces of furniture to a two-museum show as part of Philadelphia's celebrations for the U.S.'s 250th anniversary. The Middletons' family collection will be featured in "A Nation of Artists," a collaboration between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, showcasing over 1,000 works of art to commemorate America's semiquincentennial. "Our aspiration is that this exhibition is for everyone — no prior knowledge of art or history required," Middleton said in a statement. "We believe in the power of storytelling to connect people and are thrilled to partner with these two storied institutions to share the works that have brought our family so much joy and inspiration. Like baseball, art has the power to bring people together and surprise us when we least expect it. With every viewing, there's something new to discover." "The Lee Shore," by Edward Hopper, is one of the works owned by Middleton that will be on display. Edward Hopper/Philadelphia Phillies "A Nation of Artists" will be open to the public at both the Art Museum and PAFA from April 2026 to September 2027. The exhibition will explore the "richness of American art," according to a news release. The Middletons' collection will be interwoven into the double show, which will include paintings, sculptures, furniture, decorative arts and photography. The exhibition will also include paintings from Charles Willson Peale, John Singer Sargent and Horace Pippin, the Art Museum and PAFA said in a news release. "What makes American art so powerful is not only where it was created but also who made it — and why," Sasha Suda, CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, said in a statement. "'A Nation of Artists' will present a broad and vibrant picture of artistic expression that was happening across the country through both familiar icons and voices that have historically been overlooked." Philadelphia has a large slate of events to celebrate America's 250th birthday in 2026, including several major sporting events. The city is one of 11 U.S. host cities for the FIFA World Cup, will host the MLB All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, part of the NCAA Tournament and the PGA Championship in 2026.
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Art for Everybody review – the dark side of Thomas Kinkade, ‘painter of light'
You won't find the works of Thomas Kinkade lining the walls of the Museum of Modern Art, yet the painter, who died in 2012, is one of the best-selling artists in history and his paintings hang in tens of millions of American households. Kinkade's typical subjects – rustic landscapes, sleepy cottages, quaint gazebos – bask in an idyllic calm, a luminous callback to a fabled simpler past. Turning to his unpublished archive, Miranda Yousef's engrossing documentary portrait unveils the dark shadows that lurked within the self-titled 'painter of light'. Through interviews with family members, close collaborators and critics, as well as Kinkade's own words, the film traces his meteoric success in the 1980s and 90s. Shunned by the art world, he marketed his works through home-shopping television channels and a network of franchise stores to a ravenous fanbase. The Kinkade name became a brand and his pictures were plastered on to collectible plates, cookie jars and mugs. At its peak, his empire generated more than $100m a year. Kinkade proclaimed that his art was for everybody. In reality, his paintings appealed to a specific demographic of white, conservative and largely Christian Americans. Yousef's film does touch on the ideological nature of his work – how it stands in stark contrast to, for example, the subversive art of Robert Mapplethorpe and other contemporaries – though it could have merited more in-depth insight and contextualisation. Yousef's access to Kinkade's private archive, however, is revelatory. Once tucked away in a vault, these secret canvases are haunted by tortured figures and somber landscapes, cast in subdued hues of brown, black and burgundy. Together they reflect Kinkade's struggles with depression and addiction. Here is a visual portal to a hidden side of a controversial artist – one that is not for sale. Art for Everybody is at Bertha DocHouse, London, from 13 June.
