11 Contemporary Emirati Artists To Know

The article highlights 11 contemporary Emirati artists, providing an overview of their practices and significance within the Gulf's evolving art scene. It contextualizes this list against recent major events in the region, including the debut of Art Basel Qatar in early February and the subsequent U.S. attacks on Iran, which caused turmoil across the Gulf, disrupted airline operations, and forced Art Dubai to scale back its event to a smaller fair in mid-May. Artists and galleries in the Gulf also had to temporarily close.

auguste rodin egyptian collection exhibition nyu isaw

A new exhibition titled “Rodin’s Egypt” opens November 19 at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW), exploring how ancient Egyptian art influenced Auguste Rodin’s sculptures. Guest curated by Bénédicte Garnier of the Musée Rodin in Paris, the show features 65 objects, including Rodin’s rarely seen assemblages that combine his plaster casts with Egyptian antiquities from his personal collection of over 1,000 Egyptian items. This marks the first US exhibition of Rodin’s Egyptian holdings.

Ruins of ‘unique’, circular water temple discovered in Egypt

Archaeologists in northern Sinai have unearthed the ruins of a unique circular water temple at the site of ancient Pelusium, dating back to the second century. Initially mistaken for a political senate building, the structure features a 35-meter wide basin and brick walls characteristic of Roman construction, suggesting it was used for religious rituals linked to the local fertility god Pelusius.

3d tech reveals new gladiator graffiti in pompeii

Researchers using Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) and 3D photogrammetry have uncovered 79 previously invisible graffiti fragments on a 90-foot walled corridor in Pompeii's theater district. Among the discoveries are a dynamic sketch of two gladiators in combat and a love declaration beginning "Erato amat…" (Erato loves…). The work, detailed in Pompeii's e-journal, was conducted by teams from Sorbonne University and the University of Québec at Montréal, who developed a custom 3D-image platform to visualize and digitally annotate the ancient carvings.

hidden messages paris luxor obelisk

Egyptologist Jean-Guillaume Olette-Pelletier, a lecturer at Sorbonne University, discovered hidden cryptographic messages on the Luxor Obelisk in Paris's Place de la Concorde. During the pandemic, he noticed unusual hieroglyphs while walking past the 3,000-year-old monument. After scaffolding was erected for renovations ahead of the 2024 Olympics, he obtained permission to study the obelisk up close, becoming the first person in over a century to climb it. He identified seven crypto-hieroglyphs—encoded messages using puzzles and wordplay—that only a few experts can read. These inscriptions, set to be published in the journal ENiM, reveal that Pharaoh Ramses II used the obelisk as a propaganda tool to assert his divine right to rule, targeting the intellectual elite who approached the Luxor Temple by boat.

Guimet Museum Presents Europe's First Silla Exhibition

The Guimet Museum in Paris is presenting Europe's first-ever exhibition dedicated to the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla. The show features archaeological treasures, including gold crowns, jewelry, and Buddhist artifacts, highlighting the cultural and artistic achievements of Silla, which flourished from 57 BCE to 935 CE.

Researcher Announcement: The Duke of Morny's Far Eastern Objects Collection

Annonce de chercheur : la collection d'objets extrême-orientaux du duc de Morny

A doctoral researcher at Sorbonne University, Anaïs Veyrac, is publicly seeking information to aid her thesis on the collection of Far Eastern objects assembled by the Duke of Morny (1811-1865). She is asking collectors, enthusiasts, or anyone with relevant correspondence, archives, or testimonies regarding Asian-origin objects that belonged to the Duke to come forward, as the collection was dispersed after his death and lacks comprehensive archival records.