Show Scheduled--Art Basel Miami Beach (FL) will take place Dec. 4-7 at the Miami Convention Center. The international art show is a new type of cultural event, combining a contemporary art show with an exciting program of special exhibitions, parties and crossover events. An exclusive selection of 160 leading art galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia will exhibit 20th and 21st century artworks, including painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, print, photography, film, performance, video and digital art by more than 1,000 artists.

New Director Named--Thomas W. Lentz has been appointed as Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums, effective Nov. 15. A 1985 graduate of Harvard's doctoral program in fine arts, Lentz is an expert in Persian painting. The Harvard University Art Museums is one of the world's leading art institutions, with more than 160,000 objects in the collection ranging in date from ancient times to the present.

Holiday Postage Stamps Announced--The U. S. Postal Service has announced the availability of holiday stamps for the 2003 season. Four delightful images of lively music makers created by artist Diane Teske Harris, Billings, MT, feature two images of whimsical Santas and two fanciful reindeer. Playing horns, panpipes and drum, these colorful images bring to mind the many joys of the season. The Madonna and Child stamp is a reissue of the 2002 stamp depicting artist Jan Gossaert's serene oil-on-panel painting "Madonna and Child," circa 1520, from the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, reformatted as a double-sided convertible booklet.

NEA News--The Arts Endowment has announced that Texas Arts Commission Chairman Tony Chauveaux will serve as the agency's Deputy Chairman for Grants and Awards. See the Endowment's newly designed web site with a new look and a more user-friendly architecture at www.arts.gov.

Milestone Reached--Artist and author William Steig has died in Boston at age 95. His cartoons and drawings appeared in The New Yorker for more than sixty years, and he authored more than 25 children's books, including Shrek.

Benches for Sale--As a featured project of Central Park's 150th Anniversary celebration, 53 eminent New York artists, architects, designers and celebrities were invited to turn traditional park benches into unique works of art as part of the Target Benchmarks Central Park project. The benches were displayed in the park in October and will be exhibited at 13 leading art galleries in Chelsea through Nov. 8th. They will be auctioned at Christie's on Nov. 20th to benefit the ongoing care and maintenance of the Park. See. www.centralparknyc.org/49374/.

Exhibitions:

Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, PA -- Art of the American West From a Private Collection features 51 works that include oils, watercolors and bronzes from a distinguished collection that depict the imagery of the historic West. Beginning in the 1800's with spectacular mountain views by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran, the collection includes major paintings of Indian life and the vanishing frontier by Farny, Remington, Russell, Wyeth and Terpning. Through Nov. 23.

Ogden Museum of Southern Art, U. of New Orleans, LA -- The Story of the South: Art and Culture, 1890-2003 celebrates the unveiling of Stephen Goldring Hall in the Warehouse District. The exhibition showcases some of the most important artworks to come out of the South and gives an insider's view of Southern life, including the legacies, traditions and history as interpreted by artists.

Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT -- JFK and Art marks the first exhibition to examine how American and European artists helped to shape the Kennedy legend and legacy. Over 40 paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs from throughout the world investigate the Kennedy myth and mystique in relation to the art of its time and coincides with the 40th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination on Nov. 22, 1963. Through Jan. 11, 2004.

Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO -- A Fiction of Authenticity: Contemporary Africa Abroad celebrates the opening of the new 27,000 square-foot facility in the heart of St. Louis' creative and cultural district, Grand Center. The exhibition features a variety of prominent contemporary African and African Diaspora artists working in a variety of mediums--sculpture, painting, photography, installation, video and performance--and presents, in depth, the diversity of contemporary art practices in and from Africa. Through Jan. 3, 2004.

Denver Art Museum, CO -- El Greco to Picasso From the Phillips Collection is an exceptional compilation of European masterworks by 32 of the world's most renowned and beloved artists. Showcased are 53 paintings and sculpture from the mid-1800's through the 1930's and the earlier masterpieces that inspired them. The lineup of luminaries includes greats such as Picasso, van Gogh, Matisse, Degas, El Greco, Monet, Renoir and more. Special exhibition tickets are required. Through Jan. 4, 2004.

The Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA -- Jean Houdon: Sculptor of the Enlightenment is the first major international exhibition devoted to one of the most prominent and versatile sculptors in 18th-century France. Featured are many of Houdon's iconic images of early American and Enlightenment leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Francois Voltaire. Exhibitions Pavilion, through Jan. 25, 2004.

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. -- In Beyond the Frame: Impressionism Revisited, the Sculptures of J. Seward Johnson Jr., audiences can explore more than 15 life-sized tableaux, previously known only as paintings. Johnson invites visitors to walk into sculptures inspired by masterpieces from the French Impressionist era and experience the work in three dimensions. Through Jan. 5, 2004.