| | Electrician Stuns Art World with Trove of Picasso Works of Art; Heirs Not Convinced
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Pierre Le Guyennec, a retired electrician, speaks to journalists outside his home in Mouans Sartoux, Southern France, 29 November 2010. Mr. Le Guyennec, who worked for Pablo Picasso, claims he has hundreds of previously unknown works by the artist. The treasure trove of 271 pieces includes lithographs, cubist paintings, notebooks and a watercolor, and is said to be worth about 60m euros. Pierre Le Guennec reportedly said Picasso gave him the works as gifts. But the estate's administrators have filed a case for alleged illegal receipt of the works of art. The works include a portrait of the late artist's first wife, Olga. EPA/SERGE HAOUZI.
By: Pauline Mevel
PARIS (REUTERS).- Pablo Picasso was both hugely prolific and famously generous with his work, but was he enough of a free spirit to give hundreds of his early works -- an invaluable collection -- to his electrician? That question lies at the heart of a court case over the origin of 271 Picasso works -- a treasure trove of original sketches, paintings and collages that was unknown to the art world a few months ago and unveiled for the public on Monday. Experts have yet to appraise the full collection, which has been placed under lock and key after a judicial appeal by Picasso's heirs. But there is little dispute so far over its authenticity. The works, many of which belong to the artist's Blue and Cubist periods, could fetch more than 60 million euros ($79 million) at auction. More mysterious is how such an extensive collection could have wound up in the hands of a retired electrician in the south of France who once worked for the Picasso family, or why he chose to hold onto it f ... More |
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Sotheby's to Offer the Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor, One of the Greatest Jewellery Collections
A gold, ruby, turquoise and diamond purse, belonging to Wallis Simpson. Photo: EPA/Sotheby's.
LONDON.- Twenty-three years after the legendary auction of the “Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor” – still the most valuable single-owner jewellery collection ever sold* – Sotheby’s offer twenty pieces for sale in London on 30 November 2010, including some renowned examples illustrating both the exquisite taste of the famous couple and memorialising key events in their historic relationship. Together the pieces are estimated to fetch in the region of £3 million**. Speaking of the sale, David Bennett, Chairman of Sotheby’s Jewellery in Europe and the Middle East, said: “It is an extraordinary honour to bring once again to sale these jewels worn by a woman who was a leader of fashion and the epitome of elegance and sophistication for her generation and beyond. The offering comprises not only, beautifully preserved, incomparable examples of the genius of Cartier in collaboration with the Windsor ... More | | Sotheby's Upcoming Sale of Contemporary Art will Feature Two Sessions at the Galerie in Paris
César (1921-1998), Shock Red 165, 1998. Compressed cars, 177 x 84 x 82 cm. Estimate: 150 000-200 000 €. Photo: Sotheby's.
PARIS.- Sotheby’s upcoming sale of Contemporary Art will feature two sessions at the Galerie Charpentier in Paris on December 7 & 8.Coinciding with the Basquiat retrospective at the Paris Musée d’Art Moderne, Sotheby’s will offer Water-Worshipper, an iconic work from 1984, when Jean-Michel Basquiat was at the height of his powers. The canvas, kept in the same collection since it was acquired in 1988, evokes Basquiat’s Haiti origins and minority oppression in the Americas. Water-Worshipper is the contemporary work with the highest estimate (€2,300,000-3,000,000) to be offered at Sotheby’s Paris since 2008. The Evening Sale on December 7 majors on a European Private Collection assembled between 1960-75, containing sixty carefully chosen works now appearing at auction for the first time. Three works from the collection were ... More | | The Diamond Encrusted Skull by Damien Hirst on Display at Palazzo Vecchio
Damien Hirst's Diamond skull. EPA/WHITE CUBE.
FLORENCE.- The diamond encrusted skull, For the Love of God, by British artist Damien Hirst, which gained iconic status following its first exhibition in 2007, is present at Palazzo Vecchio in Florence from 26 November 2010 to 1 May 2011. Promoted by the Comune di Firenze, Assessorato alla Cultura e alla Contemporaneità and the Musei Civici Fiorentini, the event was conceived by Memoria srl, is curated by Francesco Bonami and is being produced and organised by Arthemisia Group. For the Love of God is a life-size cast of a human skull in platinum, entirely covered by 8,601 VVS to flawless pavé-set diamonds, weighing a total of 1,106.18 carats. Set into the forehead is a large pear-shaped pink diamond, known as the Skull Star Diamond. The teeth are those of the original skull, which was purchased by Hirst in London, and dates back to the eighteenth-century. The work stands in the great tradition of the ‘Memento Mori’ ... More |
 | Seoul Auction Autumn Sale Held in Hong Kong Achieved Over HK$35 Million
Kim Whanki's Mountain sold for HKD7,832,000.
HONG KONG.- Seoul Auction held its Modern & Contemporary Art Sale in Hong Kong at the Pacific Place Conference Centre. Over 50 excellent works by celebrated Western, Chinese, Korean and Japanese artists were offered and a total of HK$35,143,980/US$4,505,640 was achieved. In conjunction, Seoul Auction also held in the same venue a Special Exhibition of Impressionists & Modern Masters showcasing exceptional masterworks for private sales. Seoul Auction is the first auction house to offer Western masterpieces in Hong Kong in October 2008. Misung Shim, Managing Director of Seoul Auction Hong Kong Ltd. said, “We are pleased by the results achieved in today’s sale which is the second autumn auction we held in Hong Kong this year. Of particular note, we presented a selection of fascinating pieces by young Korean artists including Kang SeKyung, Kim SungHo and Yoo YungWoon that boast unique artistic concepts and were h ... More | | Berlin-Paris, International Gallery Weekend Fixture, Returns for the Third Time
Warm Whole Chapel.
BERLIN.- After two successful editions, in which Berlin-Paris has become an international gallery weekend fixture in everyone’s art diaries, the event kicks off in January 2011 for the third time. Once again, the joint weekends will feature several high-quality new participating galleries, such as Frank Elbaz, Ben Kaufmann, Barbara Thumm, Klemm's, PSM and Florent Tosin from Berlin as well as In situ – Fabienne Leclerc, New Galerie, Chez Valentin, The Institute of Social Hypocrisy, TORRI and Dohyang Lee from Paris. Together, they provide a new dynamic in the exchange between the two cities and their leading galleries, and furthermore highlight new perspectives in a continually changing art market. The rules of engagement are as before: Berlin galleries are requested to invite a partner of their choice to take part in an exchange. A key element in the selection process was an ambitious programme designed to e ... More | | First International Retrospective of Jean Paul Gaultier to Premiere in Montreal
Les Actrices (Movie Stars) collection, Barbarella body-corset Haute couture fall/winter 2009-2010. © P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.
MONTREAL.- From June 17 to October 2, 2011, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) will present The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, the first retrospective devoted to the celebrated French couturier who launched his first prêt-à-porter collection in 1976 and founded his own couture house in 1997. Dubbed fashion’s enfant terrible from the time of his first runway shows in the 1970s, Jean Paul Gaultier is indisputably one of the most important fashion designers of recent decades. Very early, his avantgarde fashions reflected an understanding of a multicultural society’s issues and preoccupations, shaking up – with invariable good humour – established societal and aesthetic codes. Initiated, developed, produced and circulated by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to mark the thirty-fifth anniversary of the designer’s own ... More |
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Lisson Gallery Presents Exhibition by Abstract Artists, Peter Joseph and Carmen Herrera
Carmen Herrera, Verde y Negro, 1996. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery.
LONDON.- There is much that Peter Joseph and Carmen Herrera share in their lifelong dedication to abstraction. Both senior figures, their work avoids being heroic. Paintings often hinge on the juxtaposition of colour brought together in a way that creates a certain unity; titles are usually statements of material, visual fact. Joseph is best known for his two-colour paintings, those of the 1960s being boldly geometric, relying on primary colours and optical effects; for Herrera the more lyrical abstraction of her early paintings gave way to a focus on pure geometry. The precision of her work in black and white from the beginning of the 1950s, the simplicity of their geometric structure and austerity of her palette, prefigure and anticipate the optical, kinetic and hard-edge minimalism of 1960s New York with artists such as Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella and Kenneth Noland. However for Herrera she refutes the tag of Op Art feeling it too simplistic a description of what she was at ... More | | VIP Art Fair, Exclusively Online, Announces List of 139 Galleries From 30 Countries
Louise Bourgeois, Untitled, 2005 (detail). Fabric, 18 x 22 inches © Louise Bourgeois. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth.
NEW YORK, NY.- VIP Art Fair announce its list of participating galleries for the opening of its inaugural edition from Saturday, January 22 to Sunday, January 30, 2011. The fair -- an acronym for “Viewing in Private” -- is the first-ever to take place exclusively online and has assembled 139 of the world’s leading contemporary art galleries from 30 countries in an unprecedented live event. A complete gallery list follows below. With this power-packed list of international dealers, art collectors and enthusiasts are now able to browse works by a wide range of renowned artists including Franz Ackermann, Francis Bacon, Urs Fischer, Damien Hirst, Anselm Kiefer, Sarah Lucas, Takashi Murakami, and Jackson Pollock, to the most exciting emerging artists working today, all from the comfort of their own home. The vibrant presentation of artwork, enlivened with streaming video and dynamic zoom, along with the ability to ... More | | Great Results From Christie's Hong Kong Southeast Asian Modern & Contemporary Art Sale
Raden Saleh, Wounded Lion (detail). Sold for: HK$ 6,620,000 / US$ 852,656 / £ 546,812 / € 644,126. Photo: Christie’s Images Ltd 2010.
HONG KONG.- Christie's Hong Kong Fall 2010 Sale of Southeast Asian Modern & Contemporary Art on 29 November realised HK$56,738,250/ US$ 7,307,887, with 87% sold by lot and 98% sold by value. The top lot is the Walter Spies masterpiece Balinesishe Legende (Balinese Legend), setting a new record for the artist at HK$16.9 million. Ms Ruoh-Ling Keong, Head of Christie's Southeast Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Department, said, "The sale total of HK$56.7million represents a nearly 70% increase over the same sale last year. With average prices roughly in line with those seen at the height of the market, and several records set across the modern and contemporary sections, the market for the finest works of art from Southeast Asia is indeed healthy and robust. There was a buzz in the auction hall when the hammer went down on the Walter Spies masterpiece Balinesishe Legende ... More |
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Haunch of Venison Presents the First Solo Exhibition in the UK by Artist Nicolas Provost
Nicolas Provost, Stardust, (2010) detail. Still image from video © Nicolas Provost. Courtesy Haunch of Venison.
LONDON.- Haunch of Venison London present the first solo exhibition in the UK of the award-winning Belgian artist and filmmaker Nicolas Provost (b.1969) from Nov. 30, 2010 - Jan. 29, 2011. The exhibition will include 'Stardust' (2010) which was recently in competition at the Venice Film Festival in September, and which features cameos by Jon Voight, Jack Nicholson and the last recorded footage of Dennis Hopper. The video works by Nicolas Provost are characterised by their cinematic language, used in both experimental and narrative short films. He uses the language of film to manoeuvre and influence the interpretation of images and stories. He manipulates time, codes and form, twisting and shaping new narratives and experimental sensations that tightly bind visual art and cinematography. Stardust is the second part of the trilogy where Nicolas Provost investigates the boundaries of fiction and reality by filming everyda ... More | | Milwaukee Art Museum to Premiere Frank Lloyd Wright Exhibition in February 2011
Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West, 1955. Courtesy Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ.
MILWAUKEE, WIS.- On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home, studio and school in Spring Green, Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Art Museum will present a major exhibition offering a fresh perspective on celebrated architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright’s seven-decade career. The exhibition will run from February 12 through May 15, 2011. Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century surveys more than 150 works, including drawings —33 of which have never been exhibited publicly— scale models, furniture, and photography as well as video footage of Wright and several key projects. Reflecting on Wright’s impact during his lifetime and his significance today, the retrospective will highlight the many triumphs of Wright’s career and focus on his grand opus of suburban planning, Living City (1958) which, though never realized, was the culmination of all his wo ... More | | Tom Sokolowski to Step Down as Director of the Andy Warhol Museum After 14 Years
Tom Sokolowski, director of the Andy Warhol Museum, talks in his office. AP Photo/Keith Srakocic.
PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh today announced that Tom Sokolowski will resign as director of The Andy Warhol Museum at the end of this year. Sokolowski became the museum’s director in 1996 after serving as director of New York University’s Grey Art Gallery & Study Center. Sokolowski assumed the role of director of The Andy Warhol Museum two years after the museum’s opening. During his tenure, The Warhol rebranded itself as “More than a Museum” and became known for being a center of community dialogue through its constantly changing exhibitions, its thoughtful educational programming targeted to the city’s youth, its renowned performance-art series, “Off the Wall,” and live musical performances. Under Sokolowski’s leadership, The Warhol also set out to extend the museum’s reach internationally, through traveling exhibitions created by Warhol staff in pa ... More |
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The Rijksmuseum Displays Lessons in Drawing in the Golden Age: From Copying to Drawing
AMSTERDAM.- The Rijksmuseum will display prints and drawings that provide an overview of drawing instruction during the Golden Age. From first copying prints to drawing 'from the imagination', artists were faced with a long period of study and, of course, an awful lot of practice. Those who could ultimately draw anything from their imagination were considered accomplished masters. In the 17th century, drawing was seen as the foundation for all visual arts. Not only painters, but architects, sculptors and workers in precious metals also needed drawing skills. Those who could not draw would never achieve much in their field. And since academies did not yet exist in the Golden Age, those who wanted to learn to draw had to study with a master. Those who wanted to become a painter started studying at around the age of twelve with a master who was a member of the guild. Adriaen van Ostade’s etching “Painter in his Studi ... More
The Return of the Red Baron at Bonhams Oxford
LONDON.- Two wooden photograph cases made from one of the main spars of Baron Manfred Von Reichthofen’s tri-plane after it was brought down in 1918 will be sold in the Antique Arms and Militaria at Bonhams Oxford on 7th December. The cases are estimate to sell for £400-600. Baron Von Reichthofen, widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte) during World War I. In 1917 Richthofen became a squadron commander and took the flamboyant step of having his Albatros plane painted red and from then always flew in red painted aircraft, receiving his nickname the ‘Red Baron’. To the frustration of the Allies, he was considered top be the ace-of-aces of the war and officially credited with 80 air combat victories, more than any other pilot. By 1918, Richthofen had become such a legend that it was feared that his death would be a blow to the morale of t ... More
The Whitney Museum of American Art Acquires Skylar Fein Work for Permanent Collection
NEW ORLEANS, LA.- Jonathan Ferrara Gallery announce that The Whitney Museum of American Art has acquired the work of gallery artist Skylar Fein for their permanent collection. Whitney Curator of Drawings Carter Foster and the committee selected Skylar Fein Lincoln (Soft Serve Ice) (2007) Drawing. transfer, spray paint on paper 25" x 19" x 3.5" for the museum's permanent collection. Skylar Fein was born in Greenwich Village and raised in the Bronx. He has had many careers including teaching nonviolent resistance under the umbrella of the Quakers, working for a gay film festival in Seattle, stringing for The New York Times and as pre-med student at Universtiy of New Orleans where he moved one week before Hurricane Katrina hit. In the wreckage of New Orleans, Skylar found his new calling as an artist, experimenting with color and composition of the detritus of K ... More
Prehistoric Rock Art at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area was Damaged by Spray-painted Graffiti
LAS VEGAS (AP).- Authorities are offering a $2,500 reward for information about vandals who spray-painted graffiti over prehistoric rock art at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada. The federal Bureau of Land Management and supporters of Red Rock Canyon say spray paint covers pictographs drawn by ancient inhabitants and petroglyphs scraped long ago into rocks at the scenic preserve about 17 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip. Federal archaeologist Mark Boatwright calls the damage severe and estimates restoration will cost $10,000. Friends of Red Rock Canyon and the Conservation Lands Foundation are offering the reward. BLM rangers are investigating. Officials say a conviction under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act could result in five years in prison and a $100,000 fine. ... More
Montage Finance Launches to Provide Secured Lending to Art Collectors, Art Gallery Owners, and Art World Investors
NEW YORK, NY.- Montage Finance launches to provide secured lending to high net-worth art collectors, established gallery owners, auction houses and other art world investors. The niche asset-based lending firm will provide loans that are secured by fine art. The President of Montage Finance, James R. Hedges, IV brings eighteen years of experience as an industry leader in alternative asset management coupled with over twenty years of experience within the art world as a collector, patron, producer and advisor. During the last several years on behalf of family office investors, Tyler T. Tysdal led a team to invest in a portfolio of art loans made to both galleries and private collectors. Together with the principals and investors of Dallas-based private equity powerhouse Satori Capital, Mr. Hedges and Mr. Tysdal sought to create a lender in the industry, which understands the fine art community, but also the community of ... More
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