| | After Much Controversy, Authenticity of Teotihuacan's "The Malinaltepec Mask" Verified
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The Malinaltepec Mask. Photo: DMC INAH/H. Montano.
MEXICO CITY.- After a decade of controversy regarding the authenticity of the Malinaltepec Mask, an investigation conducted by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has verified it is original. “The Malinaltepec Mask”, a new publication coordinated by Sofia Martinez del Campo, a specialist in funerary masks, integrates 7 studies performed recently by 20 researchers on the Prehispanic piece, confirming it is authentic. The book deals with substantial and assorted analyses that the piece, made out of 762 tesserae with an approximate age of 1,800 years, underwent. Among the studies are morphometric characterization, mineralogy, petrography, lapidary characteristics, technological analysis and adhesives used to paste decorations. “Since its discovery in 1921, the mask caused controversy among archaeologists: specialist Porfirio Aguirre thought he had just found one of the great treasures of Me ... More |
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Versace's Return Painting Stolen from a London Home in 1979 to Original Owners
Johann Zoffany, Portrait of Major George Maule, acting chief engineer of Madras (1751-1793). Oil on canvas. 24 ¼ x 18 ¾ in, 61.5 x 47.5 cm. Photo: Courtesy Art Loss Register.
LONDON (REUTERS).- A painting stolen from a London home in 1979 and which ended up in the collection of late Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace has been returned to its original owners, Britain's Art Loss Register said on Monday. The work by 18th century German artist Johann Zoffany had been billed as the star lot in a Sotheby's auction of the contents of Versace's Lake Como villa last year, but it was withdrawn at the last moment. A direct descendent of the subject of "Portrait of Major George Maule" contacted the Art Loss Register, which tracks lost and stolen art and antiquities, and the ALR in turn contacted Sotheby's. "What could have been a protracted legal battle between two very well financed European families and their copious sets of lawyers has been amicably settled by the Art Loss Register's art ... More | | A Rare and Exceptional Example of the First Apple Computer Sells for $212,267 at Christie's
Christie's sold the first Apple computer, and the first personal computer with a fully assembled motherboard. AP Photo/Christie's.
LONDON.- A rare and exceptional example of the first Apple computer – the Apple 1 – sold today at Christie’s for £133,250 / $212,267 / €156,169. The first personal computer with a fully assembled motherboard, the Apple 1 heralded the home computer revolution. Only about 200 examples are believed to have been produced, and the present example was sold at auction by a private collector complete with original box, instruction manuals and a signed letter from Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. The other prominent co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, who designed and constructed the Apple 1, attended the auction. It was acquired by Marco Boglione, a private Italian collector. A further highlight of the sale was an ‘Enigma’ machine, the cipher machine widely used by the German army in World War II, which sold for £67,250 / $107,129 / €78,817. It was underbid by an internet ... More | | Rare First Edition of the Star Spangled Banner to Be Sold at Christie's in New York
An 1814 first edition copy of the lyrics and music of the "Star Spangled Banner," by Francis Scott Key. AP Photo/Christie's Images Ltd.
NEW YORK, NY.- On Dec 3, Christie's will offer a very rare first edition of the lyrics and music of the Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key (estimate: $200,000-300,000) as part of its autumn Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including Americana sale. It is the only known copy in private hands- 1 of 11 known copies. The other copies are all in institutions or university libraries. Francis Scott Key's famous patriotic verses were inspired by a shipboard vigil on the night of September 13-14, 1814, when a British naval flotilla bombarded Fort McHenry for hours, prefatory to a planned full-scale assault. Key, a young lawyer, and a colleague had gone on board a British ship under a flag of truce to secure the release of an American physician, Dr. William Beanes, held as a prisoner. To ensure that no military information on the impending attack ... More |
 | Bonhams Make World Record Prices for Glass and Porcelain Chinese Snuff Bottles
A 'famille-rose' enamelled gold-ground glass 'lotus' snuff bottle, which sold for HK$9,056,000. Photo: Bonhams.
HONG KONG.- Bonhams Hong Kong today (23 November 2010) celebrated its second “Golden Gavel Auction”, when Part II of the world’s finest collection of important Chinese snuff bottles, the Mary and George Bloch Collection, sold 100% and achieved world record prices. Against presale estimates of HK$24,000,000, the sale total was HK$54,832,000 (£4, 437,930) with every one of the 155 rare bottles successfully sold. A good number of the lots sold for twice to four times its estimate. A new world record for a porcelain snuff bottle was reached when Lot 121 sold for a staggering HK$8,384,000 (£678,815), four times its pre-sale estimate of HK$2,000,000. Commissioned by the Qianlong emperor and enamelled in the palace workshops of the Imperial Palace between 1736 and 1760, this extraordinary snuff bottle, decorated with ‘double-gourds’, symbolic of long life, is identical to another rare example still preserved ... More | | John Lennon's I'm Only Sleeping Lyrics to Be Sold at Bonhams Memorabilia Auction
John Lennon lyrics I'm Only Sleeping.
LONDON.- Bonhams Entertainment Memorabilia auction on 15th December 2010 is a must for any fans of the music legend John Lennon. Handwritten lyrics for the Beatles’ hit I’m Only Sleeping, an acoustic guitar used during the Walls and Bridges album recording session and a written note of personal expenses from May 1968 are just a few of the important items up for grabs thirty years after the musician’s tragic death. The most expensive item for sale is a set of handwritten lyrics for I’m Only Sleeping which is estimated to fetch £250,000-350,000. The song can be seen as a reflection of drug-induced reverie, but it is also a personal statement on John’s love of sleeping. His first wife Cynthia stated that he was a heavy sleeper who loved being in bed, and in Maureen Cleave’s famous “...more popular than Jesus” interview with John she noted that “he can sleep almost indefinitely, is prob ... More | | One Hundred Years after Mark Twain's Death, Centennial Sparks Wave of Nostalgia
The cover of the first volume of the autobiography of US author and humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, best known by his pen name Mark Twain. EPA/UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS.
By: Bruce Olson
HANNIBAL (REUTERS).- One hundred years after reports of his death were correct, not exaggerated, Mark Twain is a hot commodity again with an autobiography on the best-seller list and a new CD celebrating his legacy. The best seller is the first of the three-volume "Autobiography of Mark Twain," the iconoclastic author's private thoughts dictated during his life with the stipulation they not be published until he was dead for 100 years. That anniversary is 2010 and the 500,000-word book is flying off shelves. The CD, "Mark Twain: Words & Music," is narrated by Garrison Keillor with Twain's words spoken by Clint Eastwood. It also features songs by Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Ricky Skaggs and others ... More |
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Original Drawings by Some of the Greatest Illustrators of Our Time to Be Offered at Sotheby's
Quentin Blake, The BFG, est: £3,000-5,000. Photo: Sotheby's.
LONDON.-The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Charlie and Lola, Wallace and Gromit, The Gruffalo and St Trinian’s – stories that have lit up the lives of generations of children, and not purely thanks to the words that tell them. Very often, the enduring imprint they leave, on the minds of children and adults alike, is in no short measure down to the magical illustrations that help give them life. Works by many of these famous illustrators will come to sale -– for the most pertinent of causes - at Sotheby’s on Thursday, 16th December 2010. Some 28 original drawings will be offered, drawn with the characteristic golden touch of the likes of Quentin Blake, Raymond Briggs, Peter Brooks, Eric Carle, Nick Park, Paula Rego, Gerald Scarfe and many others. Estimates range from £1,000* (for Beryl Cook’s Nude on a Leopardskin) to £3,000 (for Quentin Blake’s The BFG, illus ... More | | 3rd Eye: New York University Artist Gets Camera Implanted in Head as Part of Project
Bilal holds the prototype of a digital camera that he had implanted in the back of his head.
By: Ula Ilnytzky, Associated Press
NEW YORk (AP).- A New York University arts professor might not have eyes on the back of his head, but he's coming pretty close. Wafaa Bilal, a visual artist widely recognized for his interactive and performance pieces, had a small digital camera implanted in the back of his head — all in the name of art. Bilal said Tuesday that he underwent the procedure for an art project that was commissioned by a new museum in Doha, Qatar, in the Arab Gulf. Titled "The 3rd I," it is one of 23 contemporary works commissioned for the opening of the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art on Dec. 30. The exhibition is entitled "Told/Untold/Retold." "I am going about my daily life as I did before the procedure," the Iraqi-born artist said in a statement. Bilal, who is teaching ... More | | Bridget Riley: Paintings and Related Work Opens at the National Gallery in London
Bridget Riley, Saraband, 1985. Oil on linen, 166.5 x 136.5 cm. Private collection © Bridget Riley, 2010. All rights reserved. Courtesy Karsten Schubert, London.
LONDON.- Bridget Riley (b. 1931) is one of the most significant and original painters of our time. This Sunley Room exhibition focuses upon her most recent paintings and will enable visitors to investigate how Riley’s work relates to the National Gallery Collection. Two of Riley’s works will be made directly onto the walls of the exhibition space. 'Composition with Circles 7' is a wall-drawing that Riley and her studio will create especially for the longest wall of the Sunley Room. A version of her wall-painting, 'Arcadia', will also be on view, which was last seen at Riley’s major retrospective exhibition of 2008 at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. At the National Gallery, however, the painting will be recreated on a larger scale to relate better with the space. While committed to abstraction, Riley has always had ... More |
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Exhibition on Treatments and Techniques Used to Conserve Rare Works on Paper at the Getty
Maurice-Quentin de La Tour, Portrait of Louis de Silvestre, about 1753. Black and white chalk, blue and rose pastel on faded blue paper. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Works on paper are inherently more fragile—in terms of sensitivity to light and handling—than mediums such as canvas, panel, bronze, or clay, and often show the passage of time more acutely than their counterparts. Frequent handling by artists in their workshops and later by collectors, combined with poor storage and display conditions, often leads to distracting damage. As a result of their fragility, drawings in the Getty Museum’s collection spend much of their life inside solander boxes in climate-controlled storage areas, where they’re protected from light, mold, insects, and other threats to their preservation; and, the fascinating “secrets”—of how they were made and displayed, damages they sustained, and treatments they were given—often go untold. The Secret Life ... More | | Israeli Scientists Drilling in Dead Sea to Unearth Treasures may Answer Scientific Questions
A drilling rig is seen as workers dig for layers of sediment in the bottom of the Dead Sea. AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner.
By: Tia Goldenberg, Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP).- Scientists in Israel are drilling into the murky depths of the Dead Sea in hopes of unearthing scientific treasures hidden in 500,000 years worth of mud and sediment. The unique setting of the Dead Sea — the lowest place on earth at 1,385 feet (422 meters) below sea level — should present researchers with distinctly stratified sedimentation that may answer scientific questions in fields ranging from geology to archaeology and could lead to new insight into climate change. Researchers say the core that will be pulled out from 1,640 feet (500 meters) below the seabed could open the door to years of research as every stratum could inspire a new hypothesis. "It's like reading a book," said Ulrich Harms, a German scientist who heads the International Continental Drilling ... More | | Ansel Adams and Cartier-Bresson Among Famous Names in New York Photography Auction
Phillipe Halsman, Albert Einstein, 1947.
NEW YORK, NY.- Fresh-to-market finds from the holdings of an important Fortune 500 company - including photographs from such luminous names as Harold Edgerton, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, Sandy Skoglund, Eliot Porter, Ernst Haas, Annie Leibovitz, O. Winston Link and William Wegman - provide the anchor to Heritage Auction's Signature(r) Vintage & Contemporary Photography Auction, Friday, Dec. 3 at 3 p.m., at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion (Ukrainian Institute), 2 East 79th Street (at 5th Avenue). "This is as eclectic and as a fine a mix of great photographs, from some of the biggest names in the history of the genre, as we have yet had the pleasure of presenting," said Ed Jaster, Senior Vice President of Heritage Auctions. "Besides the offerings from the Fortune 500 Company, which are indeed extraordinary, this grouping goes very deep and should appeal to a broad array of collectors." America's greatest naturalist photograp ... More |
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Bonhams Appoint Deborah Allan Departmental Director of Impressionist & Modern Art
LONDON.- The Bonhams announced the appointment of Deborah Allan as Director of Impressionist and Modern Art. For the past three years, 2007-2010, she has been, Head of Department and Auctioneer, and recently Director of the Impressionist & Modern Art, at Christie’s, South Kensington. Deborah began her auction house career in 1996 with two internships at Bonhams and Phillips, followed by an internship at Christie’s 19th Century, Impressionist & Modern, Contemporary Art and time with the Chairman’s office in King Street in 1997. Starting as a junior Specialist in 19th Century and Impressionist Art at Christie’s South Kensington she then moved as a Specialist in Impressionist & Modern Art and finally to Head the Department at Christie’s South Kensington. During her career she has taken numerous charity auctions since becoming an auctioneer in 2005. One of the charities that she has worked with is the De ... More
Westminster Abbey, United Kingdom Royalty's Church of Choice for 1,000 Years
LONDON (AP).- Westminster Abbey has been at the religious heart of the English — and later British — monarchy for some 1,000 years, regularly hosting coronations and funerals. Unusually, the church is a "royal peculiar," which means it belongs directly to the sovereign. Weddings at the abbey have been more irregular, although Prince William's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and his great grandmother were both married there. Here is a brief history of the storied church, which is officially known as the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster. —Around 960: St. Dunstan, the bishop of London, sets up a religious community on Thorney Island, a swampy area on the banks of the River Thames. —1066: William the Conqueror is crowned king in the abbey on Christmas Day. —1245: Henry III ... More
New Works by Grayson Perry to Go on Show in Manchester
LONDON.- Two major new works by Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry are to go on show in Manchester in the New Year. They have just been bought for Manchester Art Gallery’s permanent collection. The Art Fund gave £24,025 to help the Gallery buy one of Perry’s most recent ceramic vases, Jane Austen in E17, and one of his first major etchings, Print for a Politician. The MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund also contributed vital funds alongside two Manchester-based families, the Goldstone and Livingstone Family Trusts. Jane Austen in E17 (2009) is a large ceramic vase inspired in shape by Chinese porcelain, decorated with detailed drawings of elaborately dressed Georgian ladies taking tea and conversing. The drawings refer to the ideal view of British culture portrayed in popular costume dramas of Jane Austen’s novels. In contrast, the vase incorporates cuttings from celebrity magazines. It also includes more sinist ... More
Freeman's Realizes $1.5 Million on Americana & Pennsylvania Auctions
PHILADELPHIA, PA.- It was an exciting weekend for Freeman's American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts auction and the 5th Anniversary Pennsylvania Sale. Freeman's experienced a crowded room all weekend, with dramatic bidding for Sunday's Philadelphia and Pennsylvania heritage items. The highest price achieved was from an Edward Duffield Tall Case clock, which after extensive in-room and phone bidding, realized $193,000 to an in-room buyer. Duffield's clock was emblematic of the success of the sale: as both a significant historical item and a outstanding example of Philadelphian craftsmanship. Duffield was a friend of Benjamin Franklin, and created the first public clock in America. He also helped found the Philosophical Society. The clock shares the spotlight with a miniature portrait of Revolutionary General Daniel Morgan, purchased by an institution at $85,000 - more than tripling the low-estimate. Another highlight ... More
Founder of Chicago's DuSable Museum Dies
By: Sophia Tareen, Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP).- A founder of one of the oldest African-American history museums in the country has died. A spokesman for the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, Raymond Ward, says Margaret Burroughs died in her sleep at her Chicago home Sunday morning at age 93. Further details were not immediately available. President Barack Obama said in a statement that Burroughs was "widely admired for her contributions to American culture as an esteemed artist, historian, educator, and mentor." Burroughs founded the museum with her husband and others on Chicago's South Side in 1961. The museum has pieces of art, exhibits on civil rights and a display on Chicago's first black mayor, Harold Washington. It was named after Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, widely regarded as Chicago's first permanent resident. ... More
Former Driver to Elderly Poet Guilty of Stealing Artworks by Andy Warhol and Francis Picabia
NEW YORK (REUTERS).- A U.S. jury on Monday found a former driver of a wealthy elderly poet guilty of stealing artworks by Andy Warhol and Francis Picabia as well as millions of dollars from his former employer. James Biear, 50, was convicted on all 10-counts including fraud and money laundering charges, the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office said in a statement. "James Biear preyed upon an elderly man and robbed him of artwork it took him a lifetime to collect," Manhattan U.S. attorney Preet Bharara said in the statement. "He also stole millions of dollars, and even the valuable spoons the victim used to eat his breakfast every morning," Bharara said. Biear was found guilty of stealing $3.2 million from his victim, Kenward Elmslie. He used the money to buy himself a house and luxury furnishings, court papers said. Biear also stole a box created by Andy Warhol called "Heinz 57," along with pieces by artists Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, and Alex Katz among others. He sold the W ... More
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