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The Best Booths at Independent 20th Century

It’s a big year for the Independent, the art world’s favorite contemporary art fair, and its more art-historically minded sister, Independent 20th Century. On the heels of Independent’s move earlier this year from Spring Studios in Tribeca to the much larger Pier 36 on the Lower East Side, its 20th Century edition, which opens to the public today, has also relocated, shifting from its Lower Manhattan location to Marcel Breuer’s 1960s brutalist building—formerly home to the Whitney Museum and now the headquarters of the Sotheby’s auction house—on Madison Avenue and East 75th Street. The move has allowed the fair to expand from 31 participating exhibitors in 2025 to this year’s 57 and to more approximate a museum experience, with discrete “galleries” rather than the usual corridors lined with booths. Despite nearly doubling in size, it remains viewer friendly, in contrast to the now tired, as well as bloated (with an exhausting 230-plus exhibitors), Armory Show...
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Newly Speculated Goya Painting to Feature in 2028 Museo del Prado Show

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A painting that well-placed observers surmise was painted by Francisco de Goya will be on view in a forthcoming exhibition timed to commence 200 years after the celebrated Spanish artist’s death. After posing a question related to whether or not the work is truly by Goya, The Art Newspaper reported , “A full technical investigation of the work has yet to be completed but everyone involved, including Spain’s culture ministry and Madrid’s Museo del Prado, is operating under the assumption that the answer is ‘yes.’” The painting, titled El milagro de la aparición del eucaristo al San Pascual Bailón (The miracle of the appearance of the Eucharist to Saint Paschal Baylón), was bought at auction in Madrid by the Barcelona-based gallerist Artur Ramon in 2018, when it was attributed to Goya’s brother-in-law Francisco Bayeu. But during the global pandemic in 2020, Ramon hung the painting in his home and, after ample time aroudn it, started to suspect it might be...
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Art Collector and Publisher Benedikt Taschen Lists Mid-Century Modern Beverly Hills Home for $25 M.

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ARTnews Top 200 collectors Benedikt and Lauren Taschen have spent the past eight years restoring the Adelman Residence, a 5,000-square-foot mid-century modern home designed by architects Thornton Abell and O’Neil Ford in 1956. The Taschens bought the home in 2018 (it was listed for $12,750,000), and, over the years, have refurbished the tennis court, original to the property from when it was part of Charlie Chaplin’s estate; the pool, the gardens, and the guest house; as well as all the interior architectural details like the cork floors, sliding Shoji screens, and a small wood-paneled elevator. It’s just been listed by Carolwood Estates for $25 million. Barnard Taschen founded Taschen Books in 1980. It is now one of the best-known publishers of coffee table-style art and design books, with the tag line “books for optimists.” As a collector, Taschen owns works by many artists of his own generation, among them Tom of Finland, Albert Oehlen, Jeff Koons, an...
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Greek PM Rejects British Museum Comparison of Parthenon Marbles and Bayeux Tapestry

In August, British Museum Director Nicholas Cullinan told the Financial Times that the Bayeux Tapestry loan from France was “a very compelling example of international partnership,” and a successful, “reciprocal exchange.” That deal, which took years to form, might even pave the way for a Parthenon Marbles loan, he suggested. But in a provocative opinion piece in today’s The Guardian , Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis responded, seizing on Cullinan’s notion of comparing the Bayeux tapestry case to the Parthenon Marbles in the first place, to appeal to British readers who are now experiencing first-hand what it’s like to have their own cherished artifact return to where it was made, in one piece. “There are striking similarities between the two pieces. Both were conceived as single works, intended to be seen and understood as a whole. In the case of the Parthenon sculptures, that relationship is also architectural: they were created as inseparab...
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Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich Returns Painting to Great-Grandson of Jewish Collector Who Fled Germany in 1938

Paul Laporte, a great-grandson of the well-to-do Sofie Heilbronner, who fled Munich for the United States in 1938, spent the past eight years working to reclaim a painting that belonged to his great-grandmother and had been lost as a result of Nazi persecution. The artwork, Music (Arcadian Scene) , 1892, by German painter Albert Lang was returned to Heilbronner’s heirs in a ceremony on September 22 at the German Embassy in Washington, DC. Before Tuesday, it had been held by the Bavarian State Painting Collections, a museum in Munich. A notice from the New York State Department of Financial Services, which administers the Holocaust Claims Processing Office, explains that Heilbronner packed up her artworks before leaving Germany, intending to sell them in New York. Instead, they were seized by the German government and auctioned off; the Lang painting was later discovered in a former Army barracks-turned-warehouse in Munich and eventually ended up in the Bavaria...
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Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 142: Nev MacEwan

Nev MacEwan was a leading player in Wellington club rugby and for Wellington representative teams throughout his career which spanned 1954-67. MacEwan was a lock or No. 8 and specialist lineout forward. He played all his rugby for the Athletic Club, the last three seasons as captain and coach, leading his team to Jubilee Cup...
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Matchday Scoring Highlights: Wellington U16s v Wellington Co-ed Schools U18s

The Wellington Co-ed Schools U18s is a new representative team, with players selected from those Co-ed schools who are mostly playing in the non-Premiership grades in the College Sport Wellington competitions. A number of high profile players have come through and risen to the top of the game from these schools in the modern era,...
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