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Archive for the ‘Art’ Category

In the news: The missing Caravaggio and “the Pizza Connection”

 The missing Caravaggio and the “Pizza Connection” By Leticia Marie Sanchez A pilfered painting by Caravaggio has been in the news this month, thanks to an article from Smithsonian magazine that offers new clues to the art mystery. The missing 17th century work, the Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence is on the FBI’s list of Top Ten Art Crimes. The painting was stolen in 1969 from the Oratorio di San Lorenzo in Palermo, Sicily where it hung above the altar. One theory posits that the painting ended up in the hands of Gaetano Badalamenti, a mobster who spent his last seventeen years in prison as the leader of a “pizza connection” drug trafficking ring.  Other hypotheses include that the painting was gnawed by rats, damaged in a fire, or left in deserted farmhouse. According to Smithsonian, Gaetano Badalamenti, the mobster who ran

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Renoir and Boston

  Renoir’s “The Seine At Asnieres” reminds me of my boat ride this week at the Boston Public Garden

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New Installations at the Getty Villa- *A Must See!*

by Leticia Marie Sanchez Cultural Cocktail Hour had the pleasure of visiting the new installations at the Getty Villa. Prior to seeing it firsthand, I honestly wondered how this oasis in Malibu, remodeled after the home of Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, could in any way be improved. After seeing the results of this massive undertaking, I am a believer. What now comes to the forefront is art history, the progression of stylistic history that becomes clear on a visceral level. The stylish progression from the very formalized, stiff and archaic works to the explosion of naturalism and expressionism becomes apparent as one walks through the galleries at the Getty Villa.  There’s a logic to the stylistic evolution, and one need not be a connoisseur of art to appreciate the stylistic changes that unfold. In fact, one striking takeaway is that an artistic neophyte could learn more from

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Cultural Cocktail Hour’s Interview with Timothy Potts, Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum

  Photo Credit- Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Cultural Cocktail Hour interviewed Timothy Potts, Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, in advance of two openings at the Getty Villa on April 18th: The Reinstallation of the Antiquities Collection at the Getty Villa Plato in LA: Contemporary Artists’ Visions   INTERVIEW Cultural Cocktail Hour: Plato in LA explores the influence of the classical world on the Contemporary World. What do you think are the most profound influences of antiquity on contemporary art and society today? Timothy Potts, Director of the J Paul Getty Museum: “It depends on what you mean by contemporary art and what is contemporary to us today. You only have to go back to the late 18th and 19th century when the height of fashion all over Europe was classical styles in sculpture and architecture and

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Plato in LA- A Must See Exhibit- at the Getty Villa

 Plato in L.A. Contemporary Artists’ Visions  April 18–September 3, 2018 By Leticia Marie Sanchez Plato would have had a field day with Los Angeles at this point in time. Even the term Virtual Reality has Platonic connotations. After all, Platonic Realism espouses the notion that the material world is only a poor copy of the real one. In his allegory of the caves, Plato described shadows which people assume are real, but are, in fact, mere imitations of the real world. What would Plato have thought of social media, with all its filters used to create a hyper-perfect reality? What is real, and what is a façade? Even the entertainment world in Los Angeles, and the dark underbelly that was exposed this year. Beyond the glossy images on the silver screen, the hair and makeup, the movie sets, sexual assaults

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More photos from the Peggy and David Rockefeller preview reception at Christie’s

                                Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)Near Abiquiu, New Mexico Image: Courtesy of Christie’s                 Claude Monet (1840-1926)Extérieur de la gare Saint-Lazare, effet de soleil Image: Courtesy of Christie’s  

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Artistic highlight of the year- The Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection on view at Christie’s

 By Leticia Marie Sanchez On View at Christie’s Los Angeles Until April 12th 336 N Camden Drive Beverly Hills Art-loving Angelenos: If there is only ONE artistic experience in which you engage this week, run, don’t walk (Uber- whatever you need to do to GET there!) to Christie’s Beverly Hills. To say the viewing is a high-octane experience is an understatement. The first clue that you are in the room with works from the highest stratosphere is when you see the plethora of Men In Black with secret-service earpieces guarding the masterpieces. All of these works hail from the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller and will be heading to New York to the Rockefeller Center (naturally!) for what may be the greatest art auction of all time- the work is valued at 500 million. What is even more extraordinary

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Beyond the Nile- *A MUST SEE* EXHIBIT in LA

  “Beyond the Nile” at the Getty Center- A MUST-SEE Exhibit by Leticia Marie Sanchez Fasten your artistic seat belts. The Getty Center’s “Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World” is truly a blockbuster show, spanning more than 2000 years and covering geography ranging from Minoan Crete, Hadrian’s Rome, and Ancient Egypt. What is inspiring about the exhibit is that the civilizations of Egypt, Rome, and Greece are not viewed as separate entities. In fact, the exhibit’s main theme explores the influence that these cultures had one another. Egypt’s impact went beyond the Nile, and its presence can be seen in the Classical world’s frescoes, coins, sculpture, and pottery in an enriching exploration of artistic cross-pollination during antiquity.  And there is nothing that Cultural Cocktail Hour enjoys more than a magnificent fusion. It underscores the fact that as human beings,

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LA Art Show- *A MUST SEE* LA Cultural event

All Photography © 2018 by Leticia Marie Sanchez Strolling through the LA Art Show, there are delightful surprises around each corner, like the Earthenware by Picasso, who knew?         “Metamorphosis” by Erika Harrsch in which ”Extinct” Butterflies are created by currency made extinct by the  Euro And an allusion to Rodin’s “The Thinker” lost in his phone

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Chagall at LACMA: dreamy and ethereal

All Photography © 2018 by Leticia Marie Sanchez This lovely exhibit devoted to Marc Chagall (which ends Sunday January 7th) is filled with a host of costumed characters from “The Magic Flute,” “The Firebird,” “Daphnis and Chloë,” among others…  

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