Links we’re loving: All Hallows’ eve edition

In 2015, the ghost of Claude Monet was spotted attending his own exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art. In Paris, a 17th century henchman, the so-called Red Man of the Tuileries, is said to wander the Louvre gardens. The body of James Smithson, founder of the Smithsonian and deceased these 92 years, is said to regularly inspect employee offices. Imagined or real, we love a good ghost story, and where better than in the museum, a place where the past and the present collide. To celebrate this season of apparitions and spooky delight, we’ve compiled some of our favourite art stories from around the world...of the living and the dead. 

Researchers at the British Museum have stumbled upon what is thought to be the world’s oldest drawing of a ghost. The faint outlines were discovered on an ancient Babylonian clay tablet, buried in the vaults, carved some 3,500 years ago. 

Following a strong opening weekend, questions are already swirling about ghosts at the brand new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ in Los Angeles. Built on the site of a decades-old double homicide, believers point to comments by a former LACMA employee who reported “... sightings of both a man and a woman, to strange noises, to the feeling of a supernatural presence and the feeling of someone/something breathing down their necks. All of these occurred when no one else was on the floor or even in the building.”

Closer to home, Buffalo’s Iron Island Museum has resumed offering overnight investigations to eager visitors. Those brave enough to spend the night can meet the museum’s resident ghosts, Edgar and Tommy. 

Wondering which way is witch? Ask TikTok. Apparanlty, the hashtag #witchtok has conjured more than 19.8 billion views on the video-sharing app. If that's not helpful, consider a trip to Salem, where a new exhibition about the Salem Witch Trials relies on historic documents to present a fulsome account.

But beware those New England mistrals. Out of them just came a re-issue of Edith Wharton’s long-lost ghost stories, and a conviction that Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms is a Halloween classic.

Still searching for that perfect last-minute costume? Try haunted couture! Iconic designer Jean Paul Gaultier is now renting a selection of his most iconic preloved designs, including brassiere corsets and cage-style dresses. Or shop your own closet. Diane Keaton did, in preparation for her turn in Justin Beiber’s new music video Ghost. 

Speaking of video, remember in the film Ghostbusters II how that creepy painting of Vigo the Carpathian, the supposed 16th-century European tyrant and powerful magician, comes to life and enslaves the art conservator? Turns out it wasn’t a painting after all.

Pixelated ghosts who carry artisan chocolates? Yes, please. Famed video game designer Eric Barone, alias ConcernedApe, has just released a trailer for his newest project, Haunted Chocolatier, and it’s low-fi spooky. Watch it here.

But seriously, is pumpkin carving an artform or an amusement? Either way, it certainly didn’t start that way − blame the ancient Celts who carved lanterns out of turnips, trying to ward off an evil spirit named ‘Stingy Jack’.  

So, while divers recently went to great depths to amuse fish and visitors alike with underwater carving at the South Carolina Aquarium, we must agree that the right pumpkin, in the right hands, can indeed be a work of art. Proof: This week marks the final days for Yayoi Kusama’s critically acclaimed exhibition Kusama: Cosmic Nature at the New York Botanical Garden, featuring her recent sculpture, Dancing Pumpkin (2020). 

Speaking of dancing, there’s no piece of spooky choreography more iconic than Michael Douglas Peters’ Thriller routine. Nicknamed the ‘Balanchine of MTV’, Peters’ legacy comes alive every Halloween with a flash mob performance in Greenwich Village. Interested? They’re still recruiting for Zombie bouncers. 

And the last word goes to Martha Stewart, who this month joined the NFT craze with a line of Halloween-themed digital collectibles featuring images carved onto pumpkins. That’s a good thing?  Maybe not, but it’s gourd-geous.

Still not afraid? Be sure to subscribe to the AGOinsider for more art news from Toronto and around the world.