| | François Pinault Presents a New Exhibition at Palazzo Grassi: The World Belongs to You
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The Artwork 'Contamination' by Joana Vasconcelos, is seen at Palazzo Grassi during the opening of the exhibition 'Il Mondo vi Appartiene' at 54th Visual Arts Biennale in Venice, Italy. The Biennale runs from 4th June to 27th November 2011. EPA/ANDREA MEROLA.
VENICE.- The exhibitions In Praise of Doubt at Punta della Dogana, and The World belongs to You at Palazzo Grassi mark the 5 year anniversary of the opening of Palazzo Grassi by François Pinault and the Mayor of Venice in April 2006. It also marks the beginning of a new phase of programming for François Pinault Foundation’s Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana. From now on, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana present exhibitions that operate under two distinct time frames. Palazzo Grassi presents a fast turnover, with more emphasis on the “event” nature of its exhibitions whereas Punta della Dogana, concerned with a continuous presentation of the collection, operates on a long-term schedule, similar to permanent collection changeovers of major international art museums. On 2nd June 2011, François Pinault Foundation presents a new exhibition at Palazzo Grassi : The World Belongs to You. ... More |
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Greenland Cold Snap in the 12th Century Linked to Viking Disappearance
File photo of an employee of the Haithabu Museum, Reinhard Erichsen, pictured in traditional Viking clothes. EPA/CARSTEN REHDER.
OSLO (REUTERS).- A cold snap in Greenland in the 12th century may help explain why Viking settlers vanished from the island, scientists said. The report, reconstructing temperatures by examining lake sediment cores in west Greenland dating back 5,600 years, also indicated that earlier, pre-historic settlers also had to contend with vicious swings in climate on icy Greenland. "Climate played (a) big role in Vikings' disappearance from Greenland," Brown University in the United States said in a statement of a finding that average temperatures plunged 4 degrees Celsius (7F) in 80 years from about 1100. Such a shift is roughly the equivalent of the current average temperatures in Edinburgh, Scotland, tumbling to match those in Reykjavik, Iceland. It would be a huge setback to crop and livestock production. "There is a definite cooling trend in the region right before the Norse disappear," said William D'Andrea of Brown University, the lead author of the study ... More | | Smithsonian Institution Scientists Discover the Largest Assembly of Whale Sharks Ever Recorded
File photo of visitors observing a whale shark behind the world's largest acrylic panel at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. EPA/HITOSHI MAESHIRO.
WASHINGTON, D.C.- Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are often thought to be solitary behemoths that live and feed in the open ocean. Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and colleagues, however, have determined that this is not necessarily the case, finding that whale sharks can be gregarious and amass in the hundreds to feed in coastal waters. Aggregations, or schools, of whale sharks have been witnessed in the past, ranging from several individual sharks to a few dozen. However this new research, which involved both surface and aerial surveys, has revealed an enormous aggregation of whale sharks—the largest ever reported—with up to 420 individuals off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. What brings them together is food. “Whale sharks are the largest species of fish in the world, yet they mostly feed on the smallest organisms in the ocean, such as zooplankton,” said Mike Maslanka, biologist at the ... More | | Statue of Ancient Egyptian King Amenhotep III Found at His Funerary Temple in Luxor
The head of an alabaster colossus of King Amenhotep III, that was unearthed at Kom el-Hettan on the west bank of Luxor. EPA/MINISTRY OF ANTIQUITIES.
CAIRO (AP).- A team of Egyptian and European archaeologists has unearthed a statue of the ancient Egyptian king Amenhotep III at his funerary temple in Luxor. The 2.5-meter alabaster head of the 18th dynastic king remains intact, Zahi Hawass, antiquities minister, said in a statement Tuesday. Amenhotep III ruled from 1390-1352 B.C. Hawass described the statue's face as a masterpiece of royal portraiture. It has almond shaped eyes outlined with cosmetic bands, a short nose and a large mouth with wide lips. His reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and artistic splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of her artistic and international power. When he died (probably in the 39th year of his reign), his son initially ruled as Amenhotep IV, but later changed his own royal name to Akhenaten. Amenhotep III enjoyed the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian pharaoh, with over 250 of his statues having been discovered and identified. ... More |
Sotheby's Auctions of the Stuart Cary Welch Collection of Islamic and Indian Art Totals $48 Million
A Sotheby's employee looks at a portrait of a monkey, Mewar, Udaipur circa 1700 estimated at 70,000-90,000 pounds. The painting sold for: £646,050 ($1,068,179). AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth.
LONDON.- Yesterday, Sotheby’s London auctions of the extraordinary Stuart Cary Welch collection concluded realising an outstanding combined total o £29,313,565 ($48,082,309) well above pre-sale expectations and achieving a combined sell-through rate of 96.2% by lot. The second Part, Arts of India, yesterday afternoon realised the 7-times estimate total of £8,403,815 ($13,894,868) (pre-sale estimate £1.2-1.8 million) and established sell-through rates of 98% by lot and 99.6% by value. Commenting on the results achieved for the Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Edward Gibbs, Senior Director and Head of Sotheby’s Middle East and Indian Department, said: “The premium value of quality, rarity, freshness to the market and the provenance of a great name have exercised their appeal for collectors. What was most ... More | | Sotheby's to Sell a Superb Regency Table, Almost Certainly from Napoleon Bonaparte's Home
An exceptional Regency gilt-bronze, brass inlaid table. Estimate: £30,000-£50,000. Photo: Sotheby's.
LONDON.- Sotheby's London announces that the auction of Porcelain, Furniture & Decorative Arts from The Evill/Frost Collection on 16th June 2011, will offer an exceptional Regency gilt-bronze, brass inlaid table, which is believed to have been commissioned by His Majesty’s Government, c.1815, for the drawing room of Napoleon Bonaparte’s home in exile on St Helena, Longwood House (estimated at £30,000-£50,000). Also featured in the auction is a beautifully painted and richly gilt Sèvres tea service, formerly in the collection of the great actor, director and theatre manager David Garrick, who purchased it in Paris in 1764 (estimated at £20,000-£30,000). Also among the items to be sold in the three-part Evill/Frost Collection auction (estimated to realise a total in excess of £12 million pounds), is an unusual palisander and marquetry Chinoiserie metamorphic table previously on display in the Brighton Pavili ... More | | With Sales of Film Rolls Dwindling, How Much Longer Can Photographic Film Hold On?
Sarah Paul looks at a roll of film for printing at Delaware Camera store. AP Photo/David Duprey.
By: Ben Dobbin, Associated Press
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP).- At Image City Photography Gallery, Gary Thompson delights in pointing out qualities of light, contrast and clarity in one of his best-selling prints — a winter-sunset view of Yosemite National Park's El Capitan peak shot with a hefty Pentax film camera he bought in 1999 for $1,700. His wife, Phyllis, a latecomer to fine-art photography after they retired from teaching in the 1990s, favors a Hasselblad X-Pan for panoramic landscapes, such as a time-lapse shot of a harbor in Nova Scotia. Of 11 partners and resident artists at the private gallery in Rochester — the western New York city where George Eastman transformed photography from an arcane hobby into a mass commodity with his $1 Brownie in 1900 — the Thompsons are the only ones left who ... More |
Christie's Experts See Hong Kong as a Leader for Global Sales in Five to Ten Years
An expert holds the painting "Male Nude Seen From Behind" by the Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. AP Photo/Kin Cheung.
By: James Pomfret
HONG KONG (REUTERS).- Global auction house Christie's rounded up a robust Asian sale series in Hong Kong on Wednesday with solid demand for Chinese antiques and paintings, a trend a Christie's director said could make Hong Kong one of its leading markets within a decade. A number of major works, however, failed to sell given overly aggressive valuations, including a "famille rose" revolving Qianlong vase expected to fetch more than HK$200 million and an 18th century imperial "dragon and cloud" wooden screen. Christie's, which competes with fellow auction goliath Sotheby's (BID.N) in the global art space, sold about $5 billion worth ... More | | Clothes Make the Medieval Man and Woman in Getty Center Manuscript Exhibition
Master of the Jardin de vertueuse consolation and assistant (Flemish, active 3rd quarter of 15th century) and Attributed to Master of the Jardin de vertueuse consolation, The Competition in Sittacene and the Placating of Sisigambis, about 1470 - 1475. Tempera colors, gold leaf, gold paint, and ink on parchment. Leaf: 43.2 x 33 cm.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Personal style reveals a lot about a person, even as far back as the Middle Ages. Just as today, a haute couture gown demonstrates the social status of the person wearing it and a doctor's white coat discloses an individual's occupation, in the Middle Ages, the figures that inhabited the illuminated pages of medieval manuscripts could be recognized at a glance by the clothing they wore. Fashion in the Middle Ages, on display May 31—August 14, 2011 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center, explores how medieval artists used costumes to identify ... More | | Venice in Venice Exhibition Tells the Story of the Birth of the Los Angeles Art Scene
James Turrell, Cross Corner Projection. Dims variable. Photo courtesy of James Turrell.
VENICE.- Foundation 20 21 in celebration of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene, is mounting Venice in Venice, an ambitious exhibition during the upcoming Venice Biennale. The exhibition is on view from June 2st through July 31st 2011. Curated by Tim Nye and Jacqueline Miro, Venice in Venice has been selected by the Venice Biennale as one of its 40 collateral exhibitions where it will transport a group of revolutionary artists from the 1960s in Venice, California to the city of Venice, Italy for the 54th international Venice Biennale. Artists include Peter Alexander, John Altoon, Charles Arnoldi, John Baldessari, Billy Al Bengston ... More |
A Masterpiece by Ferdinand Hodler, "Femme Joyeus", Sells for CHF2,882,50 at Sotheby's in Zurich
The auction was led by Femme joyeuse (Joyful Woman) which sold for CHF 2,882,500 (€2,357,164), against a pre-sale estimate of CHF 2.5-3 million. Photo: Sotheby's.
ZURICH.- The “Swiss Art” Auction at Sotheby’s Zurich realised CHF 9,453,500 (€7,730,599) under the hammer of Dr. Claudia Steinfels, Director of Sotheby’s Zurich. The auction was spearheaded by the sale of Ferdinand Hodler’s masterpiece Femme joyeuse (Joyful Woman) which fetched CHF 2,882,500 (€2,357,164). Commenting on the results of the evening’s sale, Urs Lanter, Head of Sotheby’s Swiss Art Department said: “Femme joyeuse is one of Ferdinand Hodler’s most impressive and beautiful figure paintings. The extraordinary quality of this work is matched by an impeccable provenance, making it a masterpiece and a major collection piece. We are therefore delighted with the price achieved by this work tonight.” This evening’s auction was led by Femme joyeuse (Joyful Woman) which sold for CHF ... More | | Gotham Cigar Museum Collection to Light Up Morphy's June Antique Advertising Auction
1901 Coca-Cola serving tray, est. $2,000-$4,000. Morphy Auctions image.
DENVER, PA.- A superb collection of early tobacciana will be smoking its way across the auction block on June 18 as Morphy Auctions presents a 900-lot Antique Advertising sale featuring the specialty collection of the Gotham Cigar Museum of Tampa, Florida. “It’s amazing how many different types of cigar-related items are sought after by collectors. This premier collection traces to the early days of the cigar industry in America and includes everything from cigar boxes to hand-painted cases to beautiful die-cuts and figural advertising pieces,” said Dan Morphy, owner of Morphy Auctions. In the 1990s, the owner of the featured collection became interested in the history of “clear” Havana cigars – those that were rolled in the United States in pre-embargo days (before 1963) using Cuban tobacco. “At one time, there were ten ... More | | Hubcaps as Canvas: Ken Marquis Persuades Artists to Turn Junk into Jewels
Several of the art pieces created from hubcaps that art part of the Landfillart Project. AP Photo/Jimmy May.
By: Michael Rubinkam, Associated Press
WILKES-BARRE, PA (AP).- Upstairs in Ken Marquis's art gallery and framing shop, you'll find a strange, cloistered world populated by a toothy dog chomping on a Frisbee, an enigmatic mermaid reclining in a pool of oil, and some guy named Barack Obama, superfluously announcing that "I AM A PRESIDENT." It's all a bit disorienting. Maybe that is the point, considering these works of art began life as ... automobile hubcaps? The humble hubcap, it turns out, makes an excellent canvas. Over the past three years, Marquis, 60, has persuaded artists from every state and 52 countries to transform discarded metal and plastic wheel coverings into objects of wonder and whimsy. He's filled two rooms and a hallway ... More |
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 Guggenheim Supports the Appointment of an Independent Monitor on Saadiyat Island, Abu DhabiNEW YORK, NY.- The leadership of the Board of Trustees of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation supports the appointment by the Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as an independent monitor, which is an essential component of safeguarding workers’ rights and ensuring that the contractors and sub-contractors working on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi construction site comply with UAE labor laws and TDIC’s Employment Practices Policy. To date, the Foundation has worked closely with TDIC to make demonstrable advances through the issuance last September of our Joint Statement on Workers’ Rights, which sets out the substantial rights that will be afforded to workers on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi construction site in many important areas, including timely, electronic payment of wages, ... More National Academy Museum in NYC to Reopen in September with Exhibitions of Masters of American ArtNEW YORK, NY.- One-hundred years in the making, Will Barnet at 100 – the artist’s first New York museum retrospective – will open at the National Academy Museum on September 16, 2011 and continue through December 31. Barnet has work in virtually every major museum in the United States, and his figurative and abstract paintings and prints continue to advance the fine arts. During a career that has spanned over 80 years, Barnet has been a printer for major artists, including Louise Bourgeois, a teacher of Eva Hesse, James Rosenquist, and Tom Wesselmann, and he remains a colleague and source of inspiration to hundreds of artists, curators, and collectors. A member of the National Academy since 1982, Barnet lives in New York City and celebrated his 100th birthday on May 25, 2011. Will Barnet at 100 will include 43 paintings and prints that range in date from 1935 – five years after he moved from Beverl ... More Museo Colecciones ICO Opens The Power of Doubt, an Exhibition Curated by the Influential Hou HanruMADRID.- Hou Hanru, one of the most influential curators on the international art scene according to a variety of international publications, presents, as part of PHotoEspaña 2011, The Power of Doubt, a showing of 55 recent works (made between 1998 and 2011), among them photography and video installations from 16 artists coming from 11 different countries. The exposition, sponsored and organized by Fundación ICO and PHotoEspaña, begins with the idea that the art and artists of today, like the world itself, are globalized. Through digital media – from fixed and moving images to the Internet – these artists explore the nature of reality, of truth and of dreams, generating suspense and doubt in their work more so than conclusions. The idea at the core of the exposition is even more apparent in places experiencing intense social transformations, above all in those soci ... More Miami Art Museum Appoints New Deputy Director of External AffairsMIAMI, FL.- Miami Art Museum (MAM), a leading museum of modern and contemporary art located in Miami, FL, has named Leann Standish deputy director of external affairs. Standish, a seasoned arts development and communications professional with more than 16 years of experience working with arts institutions across the country, joins the Museum after serving as assistant director and director of external affairs at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Standish’s appointment comes in the midst of MAM’s $120 million capital campaign leading up to the Museum’s move to a new Herzog & de Meuron-designed building located in Downtown Miami’s Museum Park in 2013. The Museum has raised approximately $52 million through the campaign to date and construction of the new facility is now underway. Standish will lead the Museum’s development, marketing, public relations, facilities and ... More Massive Qianlong Lacquer Vase Highlights June Auction in San FranciscoSAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Summer begins with a wealth of Chinese art at Bonhams & Butterfields, with fine objects in every collecting category going on the auction block June 21 at 10 a.m. A rare carved red, lacquer vase, Qianlong, discovered in an East Coast private collection, is a star lot and cover of the catalogue (est. $80,000-120,000). Carved with classic taotie masks, enclosed in stiff lappet bands on a ground of flower heads and volutes, it is a superb product of the Qing Imperial court interest, in combining archaic bronze forms with recently introduced Western Baroque elements in an object of imposing scale. At a time when objects related to or inspired by Qing court taste engender fierce competition at auction, this 400-plus lot auction offers buyers an impressive choice of objects, fresh to the market, from private collections and public institutions. A chestnut silk ground embroidered dragon robe, late 19th century (est. $20,000-30,000) and a Manchu noblewoman’s em ... More Friedemann Malsch Assumes International Association of Curators PresidencyVADUZ.- At this year’s annual congress in Luxembourg, the International Association of Curators (IKT) elected Friedemann Malsch, director of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, as its new president. For the three-year duration of the presidency, Liechtenstein will serve as the official seat of the association. The IKT is the sole international professional association for independent and institutional curators. Founded over 40 years ago, its members have included such pioneering figures as Harald Szeeman (†), Jean-Christophe Ammann, Christoph Vitali, Nicolaus Schaffhausen and Saskia Bos. The organisation consists primarily of curators from Europe, with increasing numbers from North and South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The some 500 members feature independent curators along with curators from public institutions. Liechtenstein already hosted the annual congress once before in 2007. Friedemann ... More Study: Female Ancestors Wandered, Males Stayed PutBy: Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON.- In modern times, men explored the New World. But 2 million years earlier, the men among our pre-human forerunners stayed put and it was the women who traveled to start new families, a study of fossil teeth from Africa suggests. The findings, published in Thursday's journal Nature, indicate females from two pre-human species seemed to move out of their birth homes and journey elsewhere, probably to prevent inbreeding, researchers said. Chimpanzees, our closest living primate relative, also have females that travel to mate and raise families. That's in contrast to lower primates and most mammals where it is the males that have the wanderlust. Researchers studied 19 teeth, including eight from Australopithecus africanus individuals, a species considered a probable ancestor from about 2.2 million years ago. The other 11 were from Paranthropus robustus individuals, a dead-end species that was not our direct ancestors but more like ... More |
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