Free Republic

A New Hampshire town's attempt to force a bakery to remove or alter its painting that shows sunbeams shining down on a mountain range of doughnuts, a muffin, a cinnamon roll and other pastries is unconstitutional, a judge ruled in a First Amendment dispute. The town of Conway infringed on the free speech rights of bakery owner Sean Young, U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante ruled Monday, following a one-day trial in February. He ordered the town to stop any efforts at enforcing its sign code regarding the mural painted by high school students atop Leavitt's Country Bakery, mentioning a "complete...

Sotheby's famed auction room was filled with gasps followed by shocked silence after an iconic statue priced far too ambitiously failed to sell at auction. Billionaires descended on the New York City event on Tuesday in the hope of snagging a masterpiece created by the likes of Picasso, Monet or Matisse. But it was Alberto Giacometti's 1955 bronze bust, called Grand tête mince, that was billed as the auction's centerpiece by experts who gave it a $70 million guide price.

Last year, the three federal grantmaking agencies that award funds to arts and culture groups received a total of $708.8 million to award in a nation of 340 million people—or just over $2 per resident. When Deborah Block, artistic director of Philadelphia’s nonprofit theater company Theatre Exile, received word last November that a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts had been approved for the development and production of R. Eric Thomas’ play Glitter in the Glass, she immediately set to work on getting this dramatic piece up and running. Fifteen people—including a stage manager, an assistant stage...

For most of Western history, art was used as a way for patrons to showcase achievements, propagandize citizens, or lionize individuals. Maybe the single greatest artist in human history, Michelangelo, created his greatest works for patrons of various sorts. He created David for the Florentine Guild of Wool, the Pieta for the French ambassador to the Holy See, and the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica for popes. Art was, in one way or another, an homage to something greater than its creator.Fast-forward about three centuries, and the art world begun to change. The idea of art as an indulgence...

Trump’s proposed budget follows his attempts to reshape the nation’s arts landscape and defund institutions.President Donald Trump’s budget proposal would eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, reviving his failed first-term attempts to scrap the grantmaking agencies as he moves to reshape the nation’s artistic and cultural landscape.The proposed cuts come even after the NEH slashed its workforce and the NEA canceled grants in compliance with Trump’s directives to reduce the federal workforce and shut down diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The tentative budget plan also targets the Institute of Museum and Library...

Art imitates life ... maybe.There’s something intriguing, even frightening, about the image of an ancient horned serpent roaming across the land. Thanks to some suggestive fossils and legends of old, talk of such a creature isn’t a new concept. But the recent discovery of 200-year-old rock paintings found in South Africa now has scientists hypothesizing that this ancient creature may have been far more than just a legend. The first formal scientific descriptions of this horned serpent—a supposed member of the dicynodont group—appeared in 1845. Considering the abundance of dicynodont fossils found in the Karoo Basin in South Africa, some...

An earthenware dish designed and signed by Pablo Picasso in 1953, depicting a bullfight, was discovered by an employee of a second-hand shop in Antwerp, according to a local news outlet. “It’s a beautiful work. It required knowledge and training to spot it, though,” Davy van Basteleare, the Kringwinkel Antwerpen’s auction manager, told VRT News. The dish is in excellent condition, according to Lander Janssens, Head of Sales and Marketing at Kringwinkel. It is made of white earthenware with brown-green decoration in engobe (clay or clay powder), enamel, and oxidised paraffin. On the back of the dish are two stamps:...

As museums around the world celebrate the 250th birthday of JMW Turner, it's time to reappraise his beloved and celebrated painting, The Fighting Temeraire. JMW Turner's The Fighting Temeraire became a national celebrity when it was first unveiled in 1839, and its fame has endured to the present day. It was once voted Britain's favourite painting and currently features on £20 banknotes. But the widely accepted interpretation of this iconic painting's message might, in fact, contradict Turner's true intentions. The "Temeraire" of the title refers to a 98-gun warship of the British Navy, which is depicted in the painting's background....

Two climate activists recently received pardons after convictions and payments for property damage after gluing their hands to the frame of Raphael’s Sistine Madonna in 2022. The protest took place at the 16-century altar painting in the Dresden Old Masters Picture Gallery on August 23, 2022. The two protestors, members of the German environmental group Letzte Generation (Last Generation), entered the gallery and attached one hand each to the frame of the world-famous artwork. While the artwork was not damaged, the demonstration left traces of superglue on the frame, harming its protective finish, and resulting in property damages of around...

San Francisco has erected a statue of a woman with no clothes on which will be greeting visitors in front of the Ferry Building. The 45-foot-tall statue was installed to "jazz up downtown" according to CBS News. One worker was seen doing a "surgical procedure" on the statue's rear end. The sculpture and base weigh 30,000 pounds. "This sculpture is about being seen. Women’s presence in public art is rare. When they are depicted, it is often through outdated or passive narratives," said artist Marco Cochrane."She stands strong, aware, and grounded—calling for a world where all people can walk freely...

The Kennedy Center broke its all-time attendance record for a public event March 29, with over 11,000 attendees for the EARTH to SPACE: Arts Breaking the Sky fireworks show, the Daily Caller has exclusively learned. The history-making moment was celebrated amid a flurry of criticism from liberals about President Donald Trump’s takeover of the entertainment facility. Critics voiced concerns about Trump’s understanding and appreciation for the arts when he took control of the Kennedy Center. However, attendance numbers have told a different story. With a focus on shifting away from politically-charged programming, the facility experienced tremendous success with a widely-attended...

Witkoff said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson that the two leaders had sent signals to each other of their readiness for dialogueNEW YORK, March 22. /TASS/. US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff has said that he delivered Donald Trump’s portrait commissioned by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the US president. Witkoff said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson that the two leaders had sent signals to each other of their readiness for dialogue. "President Putin, to his credit, sent all kinds of signals back to the [US] president that this is the path that he...

Hunter Biden is trying to dodge a deposition in a lawsuit involving his infamous laptop because he wants to decamp to South Africa for three months — and he’s using the LA wildfire as “an excuse,” new court papers allege. Former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler — whom Hunter claimed illegally hacked his laptop and spread its embarrassing contents — is fighting the Biden scion’s request to drop a lawsuit against him. Biden said in a filing last week that he cannot pursue the suit because he is broke due to his art no longer selling and the wildfire...

Article Dig Deeper Hunter Biden sought to dismiss one of his lawsuits this week, arguing that he was too broke to continue the legal effort, but he is still continuing his lawsuit against the IRS over two whistleblowers who exposed the Justice Department’s mishandling of his criminal case, lawyers for the IRS whistleblowers told Just the News. Hunter Biden filed a motion on Wednesday to voluntarily dismiss his lawsuit against former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler, a former White House aide who published contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop through his Marco Polo research group, claiming he was facing financial...

Jack Vettriano Passes AwayShort Six-Minute Video About the Artist.

‘The New York Times put out a photo today of the walls of Quantico, the FBI academy, where they were painting over the FBI’s core values to include integrity, adherence to the Constitution and diversity,’ he said. Fairness, compassion, diversity and respect are just some of the words that were painted over with a much duller, gray color. ‘A less diverse FBI is a less effective FBI,’ he claimed.

You never know what you might find at garage sales and lockup auction - as one lucky antiques collector found out.A painting bought for less than $50 at a garage sale in Minnesota might be a lost work by Dutch post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh. Measuring 45.7 centimeters by 41.9 centimeters (18 inches by 16.5 inches), the painting, dated 1889, is believed to have been created during the artist’s stay at the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence psychiatric hospital in France just months before he took his own life, aged 37. Van Gogh’s “lost” fisherman painting The painting depicts a fisherman wearing a hat and...

Step into a world where steampunk meets retro-futurism! Watch majestic airships soar high above a dazzling dystopian cities of steam in this 1950s-inspired cinematic short film. Shot in stunning late 50's Super Panavision 70, 'Steam Skies | Airships above the Retro-Future' brings the glamour of sci-fi nostalgia to life. Prepare to be captivated by this blend of adventure, and vintage elegance!. Made with MidJourney for image creation, KLING AI for animation, and Uppbeat for sound design. Edited in DaVinci Resolve

A hidden face recently uncovered in a 1789 Joshua Reynolds painting proves the devil is in the details. In "The Death of Cardinal Beaufort," Reynolds included a demon-like face lurking behind the dying cardinal. But the controversial and chilling demon appeared to fade out of the painting over the years, as multiple conservationists worked on it. Now, the painting has been restored to include the original fiend...Reynolds created the painting for the Shakespeare Gallery in London's Pall Mall at the end of his career and the inclusion of the lurking figure over the deathbed was not well received, said John...

A trove of nearly 200 artworks by Hunter Biden has been destroyed — one of the casualties of the wildfires ravaging Los Angeles, The Post has learned. The controversial art had been in storage near the Pacific Palisades home of Hunter’s Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris and is valued at “millions of dollars,” a source close to the Biden family said. Morris, who loaned the first son nearly $5 million to help pay a tax bill and has been financing a documentary on him, lives in a sprawling five-bedroom, six-bathroom home which is among the few houses still intact in the...