| | Italian Researcher Silvano Vinceti Claims He has Found Symbols in 'Mona Lisa'
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Italian researcher Silvano Vinceti, president of the Italian National Committee for Historical, Cultural and Environment Heritage, claims he has found the letter "S" in the woman's left eye, the letter "L" in her right eye, and the number "72" under the arched bridge in the backdrop of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting. According to the researcher, the symbols, not visible to the naked eye, open up new leads to identifying the model, dating the painting, and attesting to Leonardo's interest in religion and mysticism.
By: Alessandra Rizzo, Associated Press
ROME (AP).- Forget her smile. An Italian researcher says the key to solving the enigmas of "Mona Lisa'" lies in her eyes. Silvano Vinceti claims he has found the letter "S'' in the woman's left eye, the letter "L'' in her right eye, and the number "72" under the arched bridge in the backdrop of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting. According to the researcher, the symbols open up new leads to identifying the model, dating the painting, and attesting to Leonardo's interest in religion and mysticism. This is just the latest theory about a painting that has never ceased to intrigue scholars, art lovers and casual viewers alike. Others have claimed the painting is really the portrait of a man, or a self-portrait, while speculation over the reason for the model's famously enigmatic smile have ranged from pregnancy to mourning. ... More |
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Exhibition of New Large-Scale Sculptures and Videos by Mike Kelley at Gagosian
Mike Kelley, Kandor 18 B, 2010. Foam coated with Elastomer , blown glass with water-based resin coating, tinted Urethane resin, wood, found objects, lighting fixture, 87 x 36 x 48 in. Photo: Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Gagosian Gallery presents an exhibition of new large-scale sculptures and videos by Mike Kelley. This is Kelley’s first exhibition with the gallery in Los Angeles. Kelley has made nostalgia, memory, and repression in everyday life the topics of his idiosyncratic sculptures, performances, paintings, and installations, which conflate vernacular sources and high modernist aesthetics. A veteran of the Los Angeles conceptual art scene, Kelley uses deconstructive strategies in order to challenge the established norms of contemporary culture, both high and low. In the current exhibition, Kelley expands on previous major projects—the Kandor series and Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction (EAPR) – combining them into one. In doing so, he breaks with his own artistic conventions, enjoying both the coherences and ... More | | Pyramid that Contains Maya Tomb at Palenque Archaeological Zone Restored
The work at Temple 20 is undertaken by specialists from INAH. Photo: DMC.INAH. M MARAT.
MEXICO CITY.- The pyramidal building known as Temple 20 at Palenque Archaeological Zone, in Chiapas, where the existence of a funerary chamber that contains the remains of a high rank character has been confirmed, is being reinforced and restored by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) with the aim of guaranteeing its structural stability and the possibility of public visit in the future. The work part of the site’s Management Plan gives continuity to exploration conducted by archaeologists Merle Greene and Alfonso Morales between 1999 and 2003. Martha Cuevas, researcher at INAH, directs to present the stabilization labors at the 1,400 years old Prehispanic construction. According to archaeologist Cuevas, the relevance of Temple 20 lies in its dating, which goes back to the Early Classic period (430-600 AD), lapse with little evidence found at Palenque, mainly from the architectural category. Temple 20 “illustrates an obscure mo ... More | | Art Stage Singapore Set to Elevate Prominence of Asian Art in the Global Arena
A woman views a painting by Chinese artist Zou Cao from the 'Fingerprints' series at the Art Stage Singapore. EPA/STEPHEN MORRISON.
SINGAPORE.- On January 12th, 2011, Art Stage Singapore, Asia’s new premier international art fair, opened the world’s art season with its debut at the iconic Marina Bay Sands. The inaugural fair features a selection of 90 of the world’s leading and up-and-coming galleries in a showcase of the best and most exciting of Asian artistic creativity. Art Stage Singapore is an annual show focused on and presenting the very best of the Asia Pacific as well as the region’s most interesting emerging artists. As a forward continuation of Fair Director Lorenzo Rudolf’s work across the globe (Director of Art Basel from 1991 to 2000, Inventor of Art Basel Miami Beach and Co-Founder of ShContemporary, Shanghai), Art Stage Singapore is set to be much more than a trade show for the art industry. Art Stage Singapore is an international show with the right balance, with Asia Pacific galleries juxtaposed against carefully selected Western galleries that complement and not c ... More |
 | National Portrait Gallery Announces a Touring Exhibition "The Queen: Art and Image"
Queen Elizabeth II by Dorothy Wilding (Hand-coloured by Beatrice Johnson), 1952. © William Hustler and Georgina Hustler/ National Portrait Gallery, London.
LONDON.- To mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the National Portrait Gallery will stage an innovative touring exhibition bringing together 60 of the most remarkable and resonant images of Elizabeth II spanning the 60 years of her reign - some on public display for the first time. The Queen: Art and Image will tour to British venues before being shown in London, opening in Edinburgh in June, Belfast in October and Cardiff and London in 2012. From Beaton and Leibovitz to Annigoni and Warhol, The Queen: Art and Image will be the most wide-ranging exhibition of images in different media devoted to a single royal sitter. Formal painted portraits, official photographs, media pictures, and powerful responses by contemporary artists will be shown in an exhibition which explores both traditional representations and works which extend the visual language of royal portraiture. Documenting the changing ... More | | Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour Says It is Time to Build Civil Rights Museum
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis.
By: Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press
JACKSON, MISS (AP).- Possible presidential contender Gov. Haley Barbour — under fire recently for comments that critics claim minimized the problems of Mississippi's civil rights era — said Tuesday night that his state should build a museum dedicated to the movement. The Republican, who is considering a 2012 run in what could be a crowded GOP field, also used his 38-minute State of the State speech to criticize the policies of President Barack Obama. Barbour said 2011 is a good time to move forward with the museum in Jackson. He said that was because it is the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders' journey that challenged racial segregation and the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. "The civil rights struggle is an important ... More | | overstockArt.com Announces Top 10 Most Popular Artist Fan Pages on Facebook in 2010
Blue Nude by Pablo Picasso. Pablo Picasso has 4,709 fans on Facebook.
WICHITA, KAN.- According to research issued today by the popular online art gallery, overstockArt.com, Pablo Picasso’s Facebook® fan page was the most “liked” artist page in 2010. The list is a compilation of the top 10 most popular classic artist fan pages from 2010. The top 10 artist fan pages on Facebook are: • Pablo Picasso – 4,709 fans • Vincent Van Gogh – 1,604 fans • Salvador Dali – 1,024 fans • Claude Monet – 940 fans • Pierre-Auguste Renoir – 818 fans • Amedeo Modigliani – 714 fans • Edgar Degas – 704 fans • Paul Cezanne – 670 fans • Frida Kahlo – 655 fans • Wassily Kandinsky – 602 fans “Facebook is a wonderful tool to use to engage with consumers, and is also an effective tool for keeping an eye on consumer trends and practices, ” said David Sasson, founder and CEO of overstockArt.com. “By monitoring artist fan pages on Facebook and determi ... More |
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Judge in New York Drops Claims in Shepard Fairey vs. Associated Press Obama 'HOPE' Lawsuit
Artist Shepard Fairey signing his Barack Obama "HOPE" poster in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File.
By: Larry Neumeister, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP).- A judge has dismissed copyright lawsuits between an artist who created the Barack Obama "HOPE" image and The Associated Press but has left a March trial date in place for related claims between the news service and companies that sold merchandise using the artist's image. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said in a one-page order publicly filed Tuesday that a "suggestion of settlement" led him to dismiss claims between artist Shepard Fairey and the AP. He said the claims could be reinstated within a month if either side requested it. The judge said other claims between the AP and Fairey-related companies that manufactured or marketed products based on the image will be put before an eight-person civil jury on March 21. Lawyers on all sides did not immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday. The dispute stems from an AP picture ... More | | Astronomers Release the Largest Digital Color Image of the Sky Ever Made
The image has been put together over the last decade from millions of 2.8-megapixel images. Photo: M. Blanton and the SDSS-II.
SEATTLE, WA.- Today, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III (SDSS-III) is releasing the largest digital color image of the sky ever made, and its free to all. The image has been put together over the last decade from millions of 2.8-megapixel images, thus creating a color image of more than a trillion pixels. This terapixel image is so big and detailed that one would need 500,000 high-definition TVs to view it at its full resolution. "This image provides opportunities for many new scientific discoveries in the years to come," exclaims Bob Nichol, a professor at the University of Portsmouth and Scientific Spokesperson for the SDSS-III collaboration. The new image is at the heart of new data being released by the SDSS-III collaboration at 217th American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle. This new SDSS-III data release, along with the previous data releases that it builds upon, gives astronomers the most comprehensive view of the night sky ever made. SDSS data have already be ... More | | Banksy's Original Art Work for Greenpeace Campaign Poster Makes £78,000 at Bonhams
A Bonham's auction house employee poses for photographers in front of "The Entity D2", by British artist Nick Gentry, London. REUTERS/Paul Hackett.
LONDON.- An original art work by the legendary street artist, Banksy, for a Greenpeace Save or Delete campaign photographic poster, sold for £78,000 last night (11 January 2011) at Bonhams, New Bond Street, as part of its Urban Art sale. The unique piece (lot 67), which was given to the vendor by the artist himself, was among a host of Banksy’s that fetched top prices in the sale. It was commissioned by Greenpeace to highlight the problems of global deforestation as part of their Save or Delete campaign and features some of the main characters from Disney’s The Jungle Book transposed onto a picture of a devastated forest. Intended for use on posters, billboards and postcards, it was printed, but never put into circulation because of the protectionist policies at Disney. It is believed that the vendor of this lot is donating a percentage of the proceeds to Greenpeace. Other Banksy highlights in the sale included Port ... More |
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Masterpieces From the Alberto Della Regione Collection at the Estorick Collection
Giorgio de Chirico (1883-1966), Les bains mystérieux, c. 1934-36. Tempera on card, 39 x 31 cm. © Musei Civici Fiorentini - Raccolta Alberto Della Ragione.
LONDON.- Containing works by artists including Filippo de Pisis, Fortunato Depero and Giorgio de Chirico, the collection of Alberto Della Ragione provides an extraordinarily comprehensive overview of Italian Modernism. The exhibition is on display through April 3, 2011 at Estorick Collection. Della Ragione was born in Piano di Sorrento near Naples in 1892, but lived for most of his life in Genoa where he died in 1973. He trained and practised as a naval engineer but art was his great passion. In the 1920s he began collecting nineteenth-century paintings and he came into contact with Modernist styles by frequenting salerooms. It is said that his first purchase of a twentieth-century work was made as a challenge to himself to understand an artistic vocabulary which was, at the time, alien to him. Determined to discover what others saw in such works, he hung his acquisition by his bed so that he could not ignore it. I ... More | | Italian Painter Marco Casentini's Signature Geometric Abstractions at Brian Gross Fine Art
Marco Casentini, Red Rock, 2010, acrylic and plexiglass on canvas, 43 x 35 inches. Photo: Courtesy Brian Gross Fine Art.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Italian painter Marco Casentini opened a show of recent paintings at Brian Gross Fine Art. The exhibition features Casentini's signature geometric abstractions, composed of overlapping rectangular shapes in intense, saturated colors. Working in acrylic on canvas, Casentini continues his investigation of color and shape in limited palettes of red, blue, white and silver. In each work, the artist incorporates painted plexiglass panels attached to canvas, adding a physical dimension to the paintings. The clean, hard edges of the plexi blend seamlessly into Casentini's geometric compositions and create unexpected variations in surface and texture. Casentini's seemingly non-objective works are actually the artist's translations of his emotions and environment. Each painting is inspired by a feeling, place, or memory, expressed through color and composition. In large monochromatic canvases, subtle varia ... More | | Group of Important Works from 1963 and 1964 by Lee Lozano at Hauser & Wirth
Lee Lozano, No title, 1963 (detail). Oil on canvas, 165 x 203.2 cm / 65 x 80 in. Private Collection. © The Estate of Lee Lozano. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth.
NEW YORK, NY.- Lee Lozano (1930 – 1999) has been described as one of the least known great artists of the New York scene of the 1960s and early 1970s. Navigating the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art, from Minimalism to Conceptual Art, she created a radical, overtly sexual, and aesthetically provocative body of work in a male-dominated art world. She rifled through styles at breakneck speed, from surreal representational drawing and painting, toward abstraction and, ultimately, word pieces and action-dominated art. As vivid and furious as the social and political changes taking place in America at that time, Lozano’s multi-faceted oeuvre, produced over the course of a single decade, traces a ceaseless investigation into the body and issues of gender, and a journey toward authentic and complete individuality in a world bent on creating consensus. On January 12, 2011, Hauser & Wirth New York opens t ... More |
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Anonymous Art Collector Purchases Peter Lik's New England River Photo, 'One,' For $1 Million
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Calling it "the best shot I have taken in my lifetime," world-renowned photographer Peter Lik has sold his first million-dollar photograph, which he calls One: a fleetingly beautiful nature shot captured on the banks of the Androscoggin River in New Hampshire. The purchase amount for this work places Lik in rare company. The buyer, a private art collector represented by Joel Ehrenkranz of the law firm Ehrenkranz & Ehrenkranz LLP, completed the purchase in December and asked to remain anonymous. Taken just after dawn, amid breathtaking New England fall foliage, the photograph resembles an Impressionist painting more than any nature photograph. Says Lik, "I will never forget this morning for the rest of my life. It was calm, and the scent of the fall forest filled my lungs. The mist cleared, and a magical reflection in the river briefly appeared White birch trees, black trunks, a kaleidoscope of foliage c ... More
So You Want To Be an Artist? National Gallery Holds it's First Cross-Canada Art Contest for Teens
OTTAWA.- Attention artistic teens, aged 16 to 19! The National Gallery of Canada (NGC) is challenging you to show off your talent in its nationwide So You Want To Be an Artist? contest. Find your inspiration in a visit to the NGC's art collection or online at cybermuse.gallery.ca. Then create an original two-dimensional artwork in any media, submit a digital reproduction of it online and encourage your Facebook friends to vote for your work. The NGC will invite the top 12 contestants whose entries obtain the most votes to mail in their original works for entry into the final juried phase of the contest. Enter for your chance to win exciting prizes—the contest began on January 10, 2011. ... More
Bonhams to Sell Rare, Radial-Engined Megola Motorcycle in Paris Auction
LONDON.- Headlining the motorcycles consigned to Bonhams first sale at the Grand Palais, Paris is a rare, radial-engined Megola. Powered by a 640cc five-cylinder engine built into the front wheel, the Megola was described by motorcycling historian Erwin Tragatsch as “probably the most unorthodox motorcycle ever made on a commercial basis”. Only some 2,000-or-so were produced in Germany between 1921 and 1925, and today the few survivors are highly prized by collectors. The example on offer was restored circa 1990, has been tested by La Vie de la Moto magazine and shown at the Salon Moto Légende. It is estimated to sell for €145,000-200,000. Demand for the legendary Vincent marque continues unabated and this sale contains three fine examples from the same UK-based private collection: a 1949 Rapide Series B (€26,000 – 30,000), 1950 Comet Series C (€7,500 – 9,000) and 1954 Black Knight Series D w ... More
Journey to Jupiter! World Museum Telescopes Trained on Solar System
LIVERPOOL.- Demonstrators from World Museum’s Planetarium will host a special viewing evening as they gaze on the largest planet in the solar system. On Thursday (13 January) from 4.30-6.30pm visitors can use telescopes and binoculars on the fifth floor of the venue to look at the night sky above the city. The event is free. If it’s a cloud-free evening visitors will get a clear view of Jupiter – which is a staggering 365 million miles from Liverpool. The Planetarium will also be running extra showings of the “Winter Night Sky” during the evening and there will also be craft activities, badge making and inter-galactic games for children. This is part of BBC Stargazing Live which is seeing hundreds of events take place nationwide looking at the sky at night. John Moran, from World Museum’s Planetarium, said: “This is the perfect time of year to see Jupiter and we are giving visitor ... More
Help Secure Future of Frome Hoard at Special Wells Fundraising Event
LONDON.- Help save the Frome Hoard for the Museum of Somerset at a special fundraising event at the Bishop’s Palace, Wells at 4.30pm on Wednesday 26 January. The event organised by the Somerset Committee of the Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for works of art, will provide a unique opportunity to learn more about the astonishing find of over 52,000 Roman Coins that were unearthed by metal detectorist Dave Crisp in April last year near Frome, Somerset. A selection of the 1,700 year old coins that were discovered buried in a tightly packed pot will be on display at the Bishop’s Palace and experts from the Museum of Somerset and the British Museum will discuss some of the fascinating theories about how the Hoard came to be buried – and rediscovered. Bookings for the event can be made via the Art Fund on 0844 415 4141 or through the website at www.artfund.org/frome. There is a suggested minimum donation of £15 to attend the event. £320,250 is needed by 19 ... More
Phillips de Pury & Company Announces Vienna and the Wiener Werkstatte Auction of Important 20th-Century Austrian Design
NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips de Pury & Company announces Vienna and the Vienna and the Wiener Werkstätte Wiener Werkstätte, an auction of important 20th-century Austrian design to be held March 3rd at the company’s New York flagship, 450 Park Avenue. The Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop), among the great design collectives of the 20th Century, was founded by architect Josef Hoffmann and painter Koloman Moser and operated from 1903-1932. At the Wiener Werkstätte, artists and craftsmen worked side-by-side on a wide range of handcrafted works characterized by meticulous attention to form and detail. In a 1905 manifesto, Josef Hoffmann declared: “Our strength must lie in good proportions and materials well handled.” Exceptional quality and a high level of craftsmanship were hallmarks of the Wiener Werkstätte’s and an antidote to the superficial excesses of the late 19th Century.nThe spirit of the Wiener ... More
Metropolitan Museum Announces James C. Y. Watt to Become Curator Emeritus
NEW YORK, NY.- Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced yesterday that distinguished scholar James C. Y. Watt will retire on June 30, following a decade as Brooke Russell Astor Chairman of the Department of Asian Art and a career at the Museum that has spanned the past 25 years. He will become Curator Emeritus of the department as of July 1. Mr. Campbell announced further that Maxwell K. Hearn, who is currently serving as the Douglas Dillon Curator for Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, will become the Douglas Dillon Curator in Charge of the Department of Asian Art on July 1. He was elected to his new position at the January 11 meeting of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. “James Watt has contributed immensely to scholarship and connoisseurship in the field of Chinese art,” Mr. Campbell said in making the announcement. “He is renowned both in this country and internationally f ... More
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