| | Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao Celebrates Roberto Matta's Centennial with Exhibition
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A woman looks on in front of the painting 'Architecture of the Time' (Arquitectura del tiempo), one of the works forming part of an exhibition dedicated to Chilean artist Roberto Matta at Bilbao Fine Arts Museum in Billbao, Spain, 16 May 2011. The exhibition will be open from 17 May until 21 August 2011.EPA/LUIS TEJIDO.
BILBAO.- The year 2011 marks the centenary of the birth of Matta, one of the most significant figures in twentieth-century art because of his importance as a member of the Surrealist group and his enormous influence on the development of American Abstract Expressionism, and above all because he was an absolute artist, a visionary and a precursor of the relationships of art, science and nature and the fundamental role of art in the complete development of the human being. He was born in Santiago (Chile) on 11 November 1911, to a well-to-do family of Basque origin. He received his primary education from the Jesuits at the Sacred Hearts College in Santiago. Later, at university, he studied in the School of Architecture. When he finished he travelled to Europe, where he met Le Corbusier and worked in his studio for several years. Between 1935 and 1937 he travelled all over Europe, living for a time in Madrid. Through his family he made contact with the world of art and culture ther ... More |
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Wife Of Detained Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Finds Him Tense, Conflicted and in Good Health
Lu Qing, wife of missing groundbreaking Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. AP Photo/Ng Han Guan.
By: Alexa Olesen,Associated Press
Isolda Morillo,Associated Press
BEIJING (AP).- Red-eyed and tense, the usually uninhibited and irreverent Chinese artist Ai Weiwei seemed a different man in custody as he sat for what his wife says was a brief, monitored meeting — his first contact with the outside world in 43 days. Authorities have still not detailed why the avant-garde artist and government critic was detained April 3 and held incommunicado, in a case that has prompted an outcry in the art world and among U.S. and EU officials, who have called it a sign of China's deteriorating human rights. The burly, bearded 53-year-old appeared conflicted and his eyes were puffy when his wife Lu Qing was allowed to visit him Sunday, though he seemed healthy, Lu told The Associated Press. "He has changed. His mood and demeanor are so different from the simple and spontaneous Ai Weiwei I know," Lu ... More | | Richard Scrushy Collection Sells at Freeman's Modern & Contemporary Art Auction
Pablo Picasso, Portrait de Femme de Profil. Sold for $97,000.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.- "Today's auction was another success for Freeman's with an auction total of $2,165,500," Anne Henry, Vice President of Modern & Contemporary art at Freeman's said, "We exceeded our expectations with tremendous prices achieved for the Richard Scrushy Collection, and many Philadelphia artists, especially Bo Bartlett." The day was marked by many achievements, the first of which was the Richard Scrushy Collection, being sold to benefit HealthSouth shareholders. John Sommerville, attorney for the HealthSouth shareholders commented, "First and foremost, we are delighted with the results. When we received the art, the provenance and history had been removed, and there was a great deal of work that was done to authenticate it. We could not have achieved a fraction of the prices had it not been for Freeman's authenticating the pieces and guiding us through the process." Highlights from the Scrushy collect ... More | | Decades-Long Dispute Over Ownership of Holy Text Archive Leads Russia To Nix Art Loans
Kent Russell, curator at the Museum of Russian Icons, in Clinton, Mass., displays a poster for a canceled exhibition at the museum. AP Photo/Steven Senne.
By: Christian Salazar,Associated Press
Randy Herschaft,Associated Press
NEW YORK, NY (AP).- A decades-long dispute between Russia and an Orthodox Jewish group over ownership of holy texts collected for centuries by influential rabbis and seized by the Soviet Union has jolted the U.S. art world, threatening an end to major cultural loans between the two countries. Russia has already frozen art loans to major American institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Houston Museum of Natural Science, fearing that its cultural property could be seized after the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Chabad-Lubavitch movement won a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in 2010 compelling the return of its texts. The Met — and possibly other major lending institutions — are weighing whether to discontinue loans of cultural property to Russia. The issue ... More |
Wide Range of Latin American Painting and Sculpture at Sotheby's Sale on May 25 & 26
Joaquín Torres-García, Fourteenth Street (Business Town), signed and dated 1920 lower right, oil on board, 21 7/8 x 17 7/8 in., 55.5 x 45.5 cm. Est. $150/200,000. Photo: Sotheby's.
NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s various owner sale of Latin American Art in New York on 25 and 26 May 2011 will showcase a range of Latin American painting and sculpture from the continents’ most important artists including exceptional works that are fresh to the market and in some cases have been recently re-discovered. Major works by Wilfredo Lam, Leonora Carrington, Roberto Matta, Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Alejandro Otero, Sergio Carmagio and a number of younger artists will be featured in the sale. The first session takes place on the same evening as the sales A Discerning Eye: Latin American Masterpieces from A Private Collection and Fernando Botero: A Celebration. The pre-sale exhibition opens on Saturday 21 May. Fourteenth Street ... More | | Kerry James Marshall's Painting Great America Acquired by National Gallery of Art
Kerry James Marshall, Great America, 1994 (detail). Acrylic and collage on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Collectors Committee, 2011.
WASHINGTON, DC.- At its annual meeting in April, the Collectors Committee of the National Gallery of Art made possible the acquisition of Great America (1994) by Kerry James Marshall (b. 1955). Now on view in the East Building's Concourse galleries, it is the Gallery's first painting by this major midcareer artist. Marshall, a devoted student of the human figure and the history of art, draws upon the experience of African Americans to create imposing, contemporary history paintings. "This year, the Collectors Committee's selections included this powerful painting by Kerry James Marshall, bringing the Gallery an important work by a significant American artist," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "We are very grateful to the Collectors Committee, which enables the Gallery to enhance its ... More | | Rare Photographs of Warhol and Robert Indiana to Be Exhibited at San Francisco Fine Art Fair
Andy Warhol in flower field with "Flowers" silk-screen, Queens NY 1964 Copyright 2010 William John Kennedy.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- American fine art photographer William John Kennedy's exhibition of newly published photographs of Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana debuted during Art Basel/Miami Beach 2010 to rave reviews. Believed to be the only such images in existence, the photographs capture the two artists and their soon-to-be iconic works at the seminal point of their careers and the birth of the Pop art movement. After nearly half a century in storage, a select number of the nearly forgotten images were carefully chosen and have been published for the first time as a collection by KIWI Arts Group. The collection will be exhibited for the first time on the West Coast at the San Francisco Fine Art Fair, Fort Mason Center, May 19-22, 2011. A short film, "Full Circle: Before They Were Famous," chronicling the ... More |
Europa Nostra Urges the Romanian Government to Save Rosia Montana Area
More specifically, Europa Nostra recommends that Romanian Minister of Culture Keleman Hunor, formally include Rosia Montana in the country's Tentative List for World Heritage Sites.
THE HAGUE.- In a letter addressed to Prime Minister of Romania Emil Boc, Europa Nostra urged the Romanian Government to ensure the highest level of protection of the unique cultural and natural heritage of the Rosia Montana area. “Experts agree that Rosia Montana has an outstanding heritage value, not only for Romania, but for the whole of Europe. We are sure that your government will therefore wish to safeguard this heritage for present and future generations, and to promote a sustainable long-term development strategy which will provide a viable future for the community living in the area,” stressed Europa Nostra Executive President Denis de Kergorlay, in his letter. More specifically, Europa Nostra recommends that Romanian Minister of Culture Keleman Hunor, formally include Rosia Montana in ... More | | Sotheby's New York to Sell Rare and Deeply Personal Marc Chagall Sketchbook
The 85-page book contains unpublished drawings in a variety of media, providing a virtual catalogue of Chagall's colorful and moving iconography. Photo: Sotheby's.
NEW YORK, NY.- A deeply personal sketchbook used by Marc Chagall for over twenty years will be one of the highlights of Sotheby’s Books and Manuscripts sale in New York on 17 June 2011. The 85-page book contains unpublished drawings in a variety of media, providing a virtual catalogue of Chagall’s colorful and moving iconography. The sketchbook originally belonged to the artist’s wife, Bella Chagall, who filled the first eight pages with her Yiddish translations of French poetry. After her death in September 1944, Marc Chagall poured his grief into the sketchbook through drawings and watercolors, many of which depict him with Bella. None of these images have ever been seen by the public before. The sketchbook, which is estimated to sell for $600/900,000, will be shown ... More | | Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Prehistoric Megaladon Shark Jaws at Heritage Auctions
Stegosaurus.
DALLAS, TX.- In an unprecedented event, Heritage Auctions will feature no less than four dinosaur skeletons - "The Fighting Pair" Allosaurus and Stegosaurus, a near complete Triceratops, and a complete duck-billed Maiasaurus - along with dozens of important prehistoric treasures, as part of its June 12, 2011 Natural History Auction, in Dallas, at the Tower Building in Fair Park. The specimens will be on display, and open to the public for viewing, Thursday to Saturday, June 9-11, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, June 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tower building in Fair Park. "Every one of these incredible fossils is museum-quality," said David Herskowitz, Director of Natural History at Heritage Auctions. "It's rare to find even one truly great dinosaur for an auction, let alone the four we've managed to assemble for this summertime auction." Far and away the stars of the dino show are an Allosaurus and a Stegosaurus collecti ... More |
Smithsonian Studies Landslides: How Rainfall Dried Up Panama's Drinking Water
Robert Stallard, STRI staff scientist and USGS hydrologist. Photo: Marcos Guerra.
WASHINGTON, DC.- To understand the long-term effects of a prolonged tropical storm in the Panama Canal watershed, Robert Stallard, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, and Armando Ubeda, the LightHawk Mesoamerica program manager, organized four flights over the watershed to create a digital map of landslide scars. Two feet of heavy rain inundated the Panama Canal watershed between Dec. 7 and 10, 2010. Landslides tore down steep slopes, choking rivers with sediment and overwhelming Panama City’s water-treatment plant. Flooding closed the Panama Canal for the first time since 1935. Despite the deluge, the influx of sediments in the water forced authorities to shut down the plant, leaving a million residents of central Panama without clean drinking water for nearly a month. LightHawk, a conser- ... More | | Stunning Fabergé Bracelet Belonging to the Nobel Family Highlights Russian Sale at Bonhams
Created by senior Fabergé workmaster August Holmström circa 1900, the flexible bracelet is composed of twelve diamond-set sections, mounted with brilliant-cut diamonds. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- A stunning diamond Fabergé bracelet is one of the highlights of the Russian Sale, taking place at Bonhams on 8th June at New Bond Street. The bracelet is estimated to sell for £70,000 – 100,000. Created by senior Fabergé workmaster August Holmström circa 1900, the flexible bracelet is composed of twelve diamond-set sections, mounted with brilliant-cut diamonds. It was bought by the renowned Nobel family, who founded the Nobel Peace Prize, directly from Wartski and has been in the family ever since. Other Fabergé works of art include a selection of clocks, frames, parasol handles and carved animals. A rare, shaded enamel and silver-gilt kovsh by the Fabergé workmaster Feodor Rückert is estimated to sell for £18,000 – 25,000 and a silver-gilt and shaded ... More | | Butler Museum Acquires 1892 American Genre Painting by James Longacre Wood
James Longacre Wood, “Mumble the Peg.” Painted in 1892.
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO.- Officials from The Butler Institute of American Art have announced that the museum has acquired a master work by American painter James Longacre Wood (c. 1863-1938) titled “Mumble the Peg.” Painted in 1892, a full twenty years after Winslow Homer (1836-1910) painted “Snap the Whip.” (Homer’s famed genre work of boys playing outside a one-room school house, is an iconic painting that has been the centerpiece of the Butler’s collection since the Institute’s founding in 1919.) “Mumble the Peg” was previously owned by the late Sherman Lee (1918-2008), longtime director of The Cleveland Museum of Art (Ohio). According to Butler Director and Chief Curator, Dr. Louis Zona, “This painting is a most wonderful addition the museum’s prestigious collection. It is a complement to ‘Snap the Whip,’ painted in 1872 before Wood’s painting, and both works ... More |
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 Drawing (on) Riverside by Patricia Cain at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & MuseumGLASGOW.- As Glasgow’s new transport museum prepares to open to the public next month, a unique exhibition examining the way in which a building is much more than the sum of its parts, has been seen by more than 7000 people since it opened last month. Patricia Cain’s Drawing (on) Riverside takes its cue from the new Riverside Museum, which has been taking shape for the last four years on the site of the former Pointhouse shipyard on the River Clyde. Designed by architectural ‘superstar’ Zaha Hadid, the Riverside opens to the public on June 21. It is Hadid’s first major public building in the UK. Hadid is making a rare visit to Glasgow on June 9, during which time she will visit Cain’s exhibition at Kelvingrove. She is also scheduled to do a rare ‘in conversation’ event at Kelvingrove with Deyan Sudjik, director of the Desi ... More Frieze Art Fair 2011: The Emdash Award Winner AnnouncedLONDON.- Frieze Art Fair announces that the winner of the Emdash Award 2011 is the video and performance artist Anahita Razmi, who is based in Stuttgart. Razmi’s previous works have dealt with issues concerning identity and gender, employing objects with a national and cultural significance or citing the work of high-profile female artists. Her winning proposal combines both of these features of her work and was selected from over 550 applications by artists from all over the world. The shortlist included entries from Australia, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Germany, India, Israel, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the USA. For Frieze Art Fair 2011, sponsored for the eighth year by Deutsche Bank, Razmi will present a new commission that intends to draw attention to how Tehran's skyline was recently used by protestors after the Iranian presidential election. She will use choreographer Trisha B ... More One of the World's Rarest, Most Legendary Motorcycles Comes to Auction at BonhamsCARMEL, CA.- Bonhams announces that it will be offering the ultra-rare 1954 AJS E95 “Porcupine” at its renowned August automotive auction in Carmel, California on Thursday 18th August. One of just four E95s completed by the factory, the Porcupine (so nicknamed because of the spiked cooling fins on its cylinder head) was created as a works racer by British manufacturer AJS and is perhaps one of the most legendary motorcycles in history owing to its brief, sunburst racing success and extreme rarity. “As far as motorcycles go, the Porcupine is at the very top,” says Bonhams CEO Malcolm Barber. “It is arguably the most beautiful, graceful and innovative racing motorcycle ever built, the perfect blend of technology and art. Comparisons are impossible but bikes of a similar caliber – rarity, significance and worth – could include a 1915 Cyclone Board Track Racer, 1955 Moto Guzzi V8 or a mid-1960s R ... More F.P. Journe & Christie's Jointly Present the First Centigraphe Sport Timepiece at AuctionHONG KONG.- Christie’s, the world’s leading art business, and F.P. Journe, legendary constructor and master watchmaker, have entered into an unprecedented collaboration to unveil the first of F.P. Journe’s new Centigraphe Sport wristwatch from its brand new “Sport Line” collection at Christie’s Hong Kong Watch Auction this Spring. This all-aluminium mechanical chronograph watch (numbered 001) will be auctioned at Christie’s Hong Kong Watch Sale on 30 May 2011 (Lot 2912A), with proceeds and buyers’ premium to be donated to the relief efforts for the recent earthquake and tsunami victims of Japan. The donation ceremony will be held at the Embassy of Switzerland in Tokyo on 3 June 2011. Aurel Bacs, International Head of Watches at Christie’s, said, “This collaboration is a unique event in the world of horology and watch auct ... More Sotheby's Geneva Sale of Important Watches Brings $8,753,568GENEVA.- Sotheby’s sale of Important Watches this evening was led by a highly rare Patek Philippe chronograph which fetched CHF 722,500 ($815,637) and one of the most exclusive examples of a stainless steel Rolex Daytona “Paul Newman” with inverted lines, which realised CHF 206,500 ($233,150). Covering five centuries of watchmaking history, from 1580 to the present day, the 280-lot sale realised CHF 7,754,000 ($8,753,568). With strong prices for pieces made for the Chinese, Turkish and Indian markets, the sale attracted buyers from around the world and more than 300 clients had registered to participate. Commenting tonight’s results, Geoffroy Ader, Sotheby’s European Head of Watches, said: “The solid results achieved tonight both for rare models of big brands and unique historical timepieces reflect the continued broadening of the market to wider geographical areas and a new generation of sophist ... More The Knoxville Museum of Art Presents Anne Wilson: Local IndustryKNOXVILLE, TN.- The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Anne Wilson: Local Industry May 13-August 7, 2011. This is the first public exhibition of the Local Industry Cloth, produced in 2010 by 2,100 volunteers alongside 79 experienced weavers at the Knoxville Museum of Art. The cloth, 75’ 9” long, was created over the course of three months during the artist’s project Local Industry, part of the exhibition Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave. The Local Industry Cloth was formed entirely from donated fibers, often from mills facing closure throughout the southeastern United States. The thread was prepared on hand-crank bobbin winders by visitors to the KMA. Wound bobbins were then used by experienced weavers to compose this single bolt of cloth, made up of only stripes, on one loom inside the gallery space. Once made, the cloth was donated to the Knoxville Museum of Art by the artist alongside an “Archive of Product ... More New Public Artwork Predicts the Death of the World's Richest BillionairesLONDON.- A new Artwork consisting of two large pyramids has appeared across from Tate Britain, displaying the names and projected life expectancies of the world’s richest billionaires. Produced by Robert Brown, MA Fine Art student at Chelsea College of Art and Design, the work was specially commissioned by the College and installed in the College’s Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground. The Artist explains: “I wanted to make something monumental for such a spectacular location, I’m fascinated by the ONS data on life expectancy and thought it would be interesting to make a monument to people who are still alive. I also wanted to make an Artwork that reflected the mood of the times: all politicians keep talking about is money, suggesting if only we had more money all our problems would be solved. But even if you are a billionaire you are still going to d ... More Jeremy Hunt Visits Watts Gallery Following RestorationCOMPTON.- Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt gave a special preview of Watts Gallery in Compton, Surrey on Friday 13 May 2011 prior to its public launch next month. The gallery, dedicated to the art of the celebrated Victorian artist, George Frederic Watts, will reopen to the public on Saturday 18 June 2011, following its £11 million restoration. Having been placed on the English Heritage At Risk Register, the Gallery’s plight came to public attention when it narrowly missed winning the final of BBC’s Restoration Village in 2006. The project subsequently received major funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (totalling £4.9m) and many generous individuals, trusts and foundations. In his own lifetime, George Frederic Watts OM RA (1817-1904) was widely considered to be the greatest painter of the Victorian age. He was an outstanding portraitist, sculptor, landscape painter and sy ... More Appalachian Museum Celebrates Joys of HikingBy: Dave Warner
GARDNERS, PA.- Halfway along a hiking trail that stretches along the east coast of the United States from Georgia to Maine, a museum celebrates the joys and wonders of the great outdoors. The Appalachian Trail Museum, in the tiny village of Gardners in the Pennsylvania hills, marks the middle of one of the nation's premier natural attractions -- the 2,147-mile trail of the same name which attracts thousands of hikers each year. "The actual half way point is two miles south of here." said Larry Luxenberg, the president of the museum located in a 200-year-old stone grist mill. The museum contains photographs of 13,000 trail pioneers and hikers, as well as a reconstruction of a shelter built by Earl Shaffer, the first person who walked the entire trail in 1948. A festival from June 17-19 will mark the one year anniversary of the museum, which is funded by donations and grants, and include the induction of the fi ... MoreIstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts Announces 12th Istanbul BiennialISTANBUL.- The 12th Istanbul Biennial, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts and sponsored by Koç Holding, will take place between 17 September and 13 November 2011. Focusing on works that are both formally innovative and politically outspoken, the 12th Istanbul Biennial will explore the complex relationship between art and politics. Serving as primary inspiration for the Biennial, the work of Cuban-American artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957–1996) is a clear example of this kind of artistic practice. The Biennial title, Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial), 2011, deliberately references the way in which Gonzalez-Torres named most of his works: “Untitled” followed by a description in parentheses. The Biennial will include five group shows and approximately forty-five solo presentations, with each group show featuring a large number of works by both established and emerging artists, ... More |
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