Sotheby’s Auction: Kònò Society Mask

The Highlight of the upcoming African & Oceanic Art auction at Sotheby’s in Paris, is this Bamana sculpture with its profound understanding of form. Early 20th century painters and sculptors were influenced by the “Negro” art which was to profoundly change creativity in the modern world. It was also magnificently apparent in the exhibit entitled Primitivism displayed along with works by Max Ernst.

The Kònò mask can not simply be reduced to the powerful wild animals which its forms evoke in this case probably the hyena (long ears embodying the predator’s sentiency) and the elephant (wisdom, intelligence) the combination of which is remindful of the polymorphism of the powerful divinities whom the priests must influence favourably.

…brilliantly translated by the sculptor through the paradox of its absolute formal purity, and in this respect it resembles no other Kònò mask. Above and beyond the obviously perfectly accomplished work and the significant fact that the roots of its forcefulness delve into the subconscious, the emotions aroused in us by the arresting beauty of this masterpiece of Bamana art are the ultimate confirmation of its importance.

Lot 58: A Bamana Masterpiece: Kònò Society Mask, Mali, Estimate €300,000 - €400,000, African & Oceanic Art Auction, Thursday, Dec 3, at Sotheby’s, Paris
Update: Hammer Price €1,408,750

Olnick Spanu House by Estudio Arquitectura Campo Baeza

“In a place of profound silence, after a day of fog and mist, an intense light is mirrored off the still, deep waters of the majestic Hudson River. This is a place where the sunsets are a thousand colors and where water sparkles in millions of reflections. It is a place where the clean air is calm and mild. It is a place that seems very close to heaven. In building here, we wanted to create a structure that would be worthy of its surroundings, something that would not intrude on this space but only serve to enhance it. Since we would not attempt to embellish on this landscape, we decided we would simply underline it. To do so, we built a large box, measuring 122 feet long x 54 feet wide and 12 feet high, with strong concrete walls that have a solid relationship to the earth. Bedrooms, bathrooms, mechanical and service rooms reside inside this concrete box. In the center of the box and connecting the main entrance with the garden, there is a large luminous hall. The lid of the box is a stone and concrete platform with a roof measuring 100 feet long x 40 feet wide and 9 feet high. This is supported by a 20 feet x 20 feet framework consisting of cylindrical steel pillars—the entire roof projecting out 10 feet. On top of this platform, we created living space by glassing in a surface 25 feet wide x 94 feet long that resembles a large table with 10 legs. Three areas have been created inside this space by boxes of white plaster that do not reach the ceiling. They contain the stairs, the elevator, the powder room and the wet bar. The central space is the living room and the dining area; the south side is a pensatoio, a meditation room with a fire place; the north side is for the kitchen. The main idea of the house is the creation of this underlining plane, conceived primarily to contemplate and at the same time be part of, this incredible landscape, and–in addition–to house a collection of contemporary Italian Arte Povera.”
- Alberto Campo Baeza

Olnick Spanu House, by Estudio Arquitectura Campo Baeza

Buy the Book: Alberto Campo Baeza: Idea, Light and Gravity Available at Amazon

Exhibition: Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity

MoMA presents an interactive website on its current exhibition on the Bauhaus. It it the Museum’s first major exhibition since 1938 on the subject of this school of avant-garde art. Founded in 1919 and shut down by the Nazis in 1933, the Bauhaus brought together artists, architects and designers in a conversation about the nature of art in the age of technology. Aiming to rethink the very form of modern life, the Bauhaus became the site of an array of experiments in the visual arts.

A book, “Bauhaus: A Conceptual Model“ will accompany the exhibition, documenting some of the most important works, including the newly re-discovered Marcel Breuer and Gunta Stölzl’s early Bauhaus African Chair and Laszlo Moholy Nagy’s Light Space modulator - a kinetic sculpture from the 1930’s; paintings and sculpture by Kandinksy, Albers and Klee as wells as works by Walter Gropius, Hannes Mayer and Mies van der Rohe.

Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity, November 8 - January 25, at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA

Buy the Book: Amazon

Tanaka Residence by Katsufumi Kubota

Built on a hillside with reflecting pools and a carport on the roof, this single family residence is made of reinforced concrete with a steel frame.

Tanaka Residence, Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, by Katsufumi Kubota
via: What we do is Secret

Icon: László Moholy-Nagy Retrospective

László Moholy-Nagy became known in Germany through his formative work as a teacher at the Bauhaus in Dessau from 1923 to 1928. In 1937 he went to Chicago, where he became the founding director of the New Bauhaus (later named the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology). The New Bauhaus, was the immediate successor to the Bauhaus dissolved in 1933 under National Socialist pressure. Bauhaus ideology had a strong impact throughout America, but it was only at the New Bauhaus that the complete curriculum as developed under Walter Gropius in Weimar and Dessau was adopted and further developed.
A retrospective at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt will examine the complex picture of Moholy-Nagy’s oeuvre in order to present the range of his creative output to the public for the first time since the last major exhibition of his work in Kassel in 1991.

Exhibition: László Moholy-Nagy Retrospective, October 8 - February 7, at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany.

Uki Hashi Chopsticks by Mikiya Kobayashi for h concept

A proper table setting for the Japanese diner includes a rest for the chopsticks, Mikiya Kobayashi has reduced this requirement by creating a pair of chopsticks that have a tapered tip that allows one to place them on the table without the tips touching the surface.

Uki Hashi, design by Mikiya Kobayashi for h concept

Dachgeschoss Bröder by Thomas Bendel

120 m² floor apartment in a former factory building in Berlin. The long sides of the rectangular room are fully glazed. In parallel, run two small roof terraces. A massive furniture installation forms the core area of the apartment. All rooms are open to the windows and can be separated by sliding doors.

Dachgeschoss Bröder, Kreuzberg Berlin, Germany, by Thomas Bendel

Tableware Collection by Aldo Bakker

Dutch designer Aldo Bakker has designed a range of tableware made from silver and porcelain.

Tableware, by Aldo Bakker

i24R3 Portable Speakers by Michael Young for EOps

Waterproof speakers suitable for indoor/outdoor use. i24R3 Portable comes with a tube stand for easier portability, the stand is removable so that the speakers are able to be mounted on a wall. Rechargeable, Bluetooth and iphone compatible.

i24R3 Portable, by Michael Young, for EOps

Photography: Landscapes by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Collected images taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) by HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera, which has been photographing the planet for several years already, at resolutions as fine as a few inches per pixel.

Martian Landscapes, NASA, JPL, University of Arizona, More: The Big Picture