| | With a Record 89 Countries, Venice Biennale to Kickoff Europe's Art Summer This Weekend
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Artist Christian Boltanski poses by his installation "Chance" at the France pavilion of the 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale contemporary arts festival, in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, May 31, 2011. The festival opens on Saturday June 4th and runs until Nov. 27, 2011. AP Photo/Luigi Costantini.
VENICE (AP).- The Venice Biennale contemporary art fair kicks off Europe's summer of art this weekend. This year's edition of the art fair held every two years is curated by Switzerland's Bice Curiger, who titled the show: "IllumiNations." Curiger said in an interview on the Venice Biennale website that she wanted to tie the exhibit she curates in Venice's Arsenale with the national pavilions nearby. "I began to reflect on the institution of the Biennale, and that is how I found the name IllumiNations, which refers to the fact that we are in Venice, and light is an old theme of art, and nations refers to the situation of the national pavilions," Curiger said. A record 89 countries will have national pavilions at the 54th Biennale, including for the first time Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Malaysia and tiny Andorra. Curiger is seeking to unite the often eclectic and anachronistic national pavilions in Venice's shaded Giardini with the main exhibition by posing questi ... More |
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Getty Presents Display and Art History: The Dusseldorf Gallery and Its Catalogue
The Quack Doctor, Düsseldorf, ca. 1768–ca. 1775. Jean-Victor Frédou de la Bretonnière (French, b. 1735) After Gerrit Dou (Dutch, 1613–1675) Red chalk, graphite, pen, and ink. Getty Research Institute (870670).
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Display and Art History: The Düsseldorf Gallery and Its Catalogue illustrates the making of one of the earliest modern catalogues, La galerie électorale de Dusseldorff (1778), a revolutionary two-volume publication that played a significant role in the history of museums and helped mark the transition from the Baroque to the Enlightenment. Constructed by Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm II von der Pfalz between 1709 and 1714, the Düsseldorf gallery is an early example of exhibiting an art collection in a nonresidential structure. It charted the course toward what would eventually become the institution of the public museum. The Düsseldorf gallery featured a new system of display in which the arrangement of objects was determined by art historical principles such as style and ... More | | Rare Masterpiece by Boris Kustodiev to Headline MacDougall's Russian Art Sales
Boris Kustodiev, Portrait of Irina Kustodieva is estimated at £1,200,000–1,800,000.
LONDON.- An exceptional portrait by Boris Kustodiev will be among the highlights of London's June 2011 Russian week. Painted in 1911 while Kustodiev was undergoing treatment in the Swiss resort town of Leysin, this intimate portrait of his daughter Irina was included in the 1912‐1913 World of Art exhibition in St Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev, as well as the Baltic Exhibition in Malmö in 1914. In 1924 it was shown at the Russian Art Exhibition in New York and was subsequently acquired by an American collector. Offered for the first time at auction, Portrait of Irina Kustodieva is estimated at £1,200,000-1,800,000. Nicholas Roerich's The Palace of Tsar Berendey is another painitng which was shown at both the World of Art exhibiton and the Baltic Exhibition. A prime example of Roerich's work for the theatre, this set design for Ostrovsky's Snegurochka is now offered with the estimate of £290,000-400,000. MacDougall ... More | | A Glimpse of the Divine: Michelangelo Drawing to be Offered at Christie's in July
Michelangelo Buonarroti (Caprese 1475-1564 Rome), A male nude, seen from behind (recto); Studies of male nudes (verso) black chalk, watermark crowned eagle (close to Briquet 89) 8.5 x 7 in. US$4,600,000-7,500,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2011.
LONDON.- Christie’s will offer an exceptional and rarely seen drawing by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) at the Old Masters and 19th Century Art Evening Sale on Tuesday 5 July 2011 in London. Drawn at a pivotal point of the artist’s career, this preparatory study is one of only 24 sheets related to his seminal, prestigious and lost commission of The Battle of Cascina – and the last to remain in private hands. The commission saw Michelangelo pitched directly alongside his elder rival Leonardo da Vinci who was commissioned to paint The Battle of Cascina on the opposite wall of the newly-built Sala del Gran Consiglio in Florence’s Palazzo della Signoria. The drawing has been seen in public only once before at the exhibition of the artist’s drawings at the Albertina, Vienna, in 2010, and is expected to ... More |
Sotheby's Sale of the Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien Totals $87.3 Million
Top lot of the sale: Lotus and Mandarin Ducks Fetches (detail) HK$191 million / US$24.5 million (Est. HK$20 million / US$2.56 million). Photo: Sotheby's.
HONG KONG.- Sotheby’s Hong Kong concluded the sale of The Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien today with a triumphant total of HK$680 million / US$87.3 million, against a pre-sale estimate of HK$130 million / US$16.7 million. All the 25 masterpieces on offer were sold in just over an hour, and the top lot of the sale, Lotus and Mandarin Ducks sold for HK$191 million / US$24.5 million, setting the auction record for the artist. In a saleroom filled to capacity, bidders in the room and on the telephone competed fiercely for the works offered. Bidding for Lotus and Mandarin Ducks, the top lot of the sale, started at HK$10 million and concluded after approximately 30 bids when a telephone bidder defeated a rival in the room with an offering of HK$191 million / US$24.5 ... More | | Unique Charlie Chaplin Film to Sell at Bonhams' Entertainment Memorabilia Auction
On extremely fragile 35mm nitrate film and almost 7 minutes long, the movie features some of the earliest known animation in film history. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- Bonhams are to sell the remarkable, only known surviving copy of the film ‘Zepped’ in their Entertainment Memorabilia auction on Wednesday 29th June at Bonhams Knightsbridge. In 2009 the vendor Morace Park bought a battered cinema reel tin from an online auction site. Once he eventually opened the tin it revealed a roll of film entitled ‘Charlie Chaplin in Zepped’. Having been unable to find any record or mention of the film during his subsequent research, Mr Park began a worldwide investigation to find out if he had discovered the last copy of a forgotten Charlie Chaplin film. On extremely fragile 35mm nitrate film and almost 7 minutes long, the movie features some of the earliest known animation in film history. The reel shows scenes of a Zeppelin raid over London whilst Chaplin acts in his trademark ... More | | Hammer Galleries Creates an Interactive Virtual Tour for Current Modern Masters Exhibition
Fernand Leger, La Danseuse, 1929. Oil on canvas, 25 x 21 inches. Photo: Courtesy Hammer Galleries.
NEW YORK, NY.- In conjunction with the opening of their Modern Masters exhibition, Hammer Galleries has created an interactive virtual tour highlighting both the exhibition and their gallery space. Following their inaugural Renoir exhibition, Modern Masters is the second major European exhibition to take place at Hammer Galleries' new location: 475 Park Avenue, New York, NY from May 2, 2011 through July 29, 2011. By clicking the link below you will be brought to the virtual tour of Modern Masters. http://vtg.virtualtourgallery.com/vtg-0111/ Featuring exceptional paintings by Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso, Modern Masters includes over twenty major works ranging in date from 1919 - 1977. Jeune fille assise, les cheveux dénoués (Jeune fille en bleu), an exquisite and rare Amedeo Modigliani oil f ... More |
A Monumental Sculpture by French Artist Bernar Venet at the Versailles Palace
A monumental sculpture of the french artist Bernar Venet in the Versailles Palace gardens. AP Photo Bob Edme.
PARIS.- Bernar Venet is the Palace of Versailles’s guest in 2011. He is taking over from Takashi Murakami who, as we know, attracted considerable interest and sizeable crowds in 2010. The exhibition is on view from June 1st through November 1st, 2011. The Palace of Versailles chose Bernar Venet to showcase a French artist’s meticulous, intense efforts to probe the question about the relationships between art, landscapes and architecture, and therefore between art, time and history. It is also the first time that this institution has decided to display an annual contemporary art exhibition work of art in the Marly Estate, which it is now responsible for. I am all the more delighted as my friendly respect for Bernar Venet goes back a very long way. He is relentlessly tearing down his own work and starting again. And – something I find absolutely remarkable –, can look at other artists’ works wi ... More | | Cuban Youths Learn to Recover History at Two-Year Workshop at Havana School
Students work to restore a pottery piece at the Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos Workshop School. AP Photo/Javier Galeano.
By: Peter Orsi, Associated Press
HAVANA (AP).- Raidel Molina, a 21-year-old with just a hint of facial hair, gently files down a broken piece of an antique table that's about five times his age. Next, he explains, he will glue a piece of wood to the spot and then patiently shape it to match the dark-stained leaf molding. "The thing I like most is the detail," Raidel Molina says. Molina is a second-year student at Havana's Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos Workshop School, where artistically inclined 17- to 25-year-olds who like working with their hands learn the rare art of historical restoration. The two-year course includes practical lessons in everything from carpentry and masonry to mural painting and plaster work. Students round out their general education with math, history, language and culture to help them ... More | | With Strong Sales, Art Hong Kong Confirms Its Position Amongst the World's Leading Art Fairs
"Daddies Tamato Ketchup Inflatable 2007" by Paul McCarthy of the U.S. is exhibited at Hong Kong International Art Fair. AP Photo/Vincent Yu.
HONG KONG.- Strong sales of work by artists from around the world including Liu Wei, Zhang Enli, Yan Pei-Ming, Jeff Koons, Andreas Gursky and Louise Bourgeois to collectors from Asia, Europe and America reconfirmed ART HK’s status as Asia’s premier art fair. The 4-day fair, which ran from 26-29 May at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre’ (HKCEC), attracted 260 galleries from 38 countries presenting works by more than 1,000 artists – with a record numbers of visitors attending, 63,511, a 37.7% increase on 2010, and a similar number of visitors to Art Basel in 2010. Art collectors attended the Fair from across Asia, Europe and the USA. High-profile collectors in attendance included Don and Mera Rubell of the Rubell Family Collection and the Contemporary Arts Foundation (Miami); Richard Chang (Beijing & New York); Sidonie Picasso; David ... More |
Beyond the Law: American History Unfolds at Christie's South Kensington in June
A magnificent full-sized recreation of an armoured Indian elephant, 20th Century with some earlier elements. Estimate: £40,000 – 50,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2011.
LONDON.- Following the success of Christie's Arms and Armour sale in September 2010 which was 91% sold by lot, achieving over £500,000, Christie's announces the upcoming sale, to be held on 22 June 2011. The auction will be led by the Colt .38 „Police Positive‟ revolver formerly owned by notorious American gangster “Al” Capone (estimate: £50,000-70,000). The revolver will be sold alongside a further 209 lots, dating from the 10th century to the 20th century – a millennia of martial history. Comprising principally arms, as well as armour, militaria and a broad selection of books on the subject, estimates for individual items range from £300 to £85,000. Perhaps the most famous American gangster of all time, Alphonse Gabriel “Al” Capone (1899 –1947) has been ... More | | Original Star Spangled Banner Fragments Up for Bid, First Time in Modern Auction History
Original Star Spangled Banner fragments.
DALLAS, TX.- Two superbly documented fragments of the original Star Spangled Banner, which inspired America's national anthem in 1814 as it flew in defiance of the British over Ft. McHenry in Baltimore, MD, and were later in the collection of a Philadelphia museum, are expected to bring $60,000+ when they come up for bid as part of Heritage Auctions' June 21 Arms & Militaria auction. It is the first time in modern auction history, to the knowledge of Heritage specialists, that any fragments of the flag have appeared in a public auction. "There is no American symbol more potent than our flag," said Dennis Lowe, Director of Arms & Militaria at Heritage, "and there is no version of our flag more important than the Star Spangled Banner. These fragments are a part of our collective history, and should be valued as such by serious collectors of Americana." The history of these amazing fragments, coming to auction from a high-end collecto ... More | | Kimbell Art Museum Develops iPad App for Picasso and Braque Exhibition
The iCubist app was designed and produced by Reza Ali for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Kimbell Art Museum.
FORT WORTH, TX.- Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment, 1910–1912 is on view at the Kimbell Art Museum from May 29 through August 21, 2011, and at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art from September 17, 2011, through January 8, 2012. The iCubist app was designed and produced by Reza Ali. Visitors to the Kimbell Art Museum exhibition Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment, 1910–1912 are able to use a specially created iPad application to delve more deeply into Cubism. "Advances in digital imaging and the convenience of an iPad provide new ways to look at and understand the processes, relationships, and stylistic developments of the revolutionary art form now known as Analytic Cubism," commented Eric M. Lee, director of the Kimbell Art Museum. "I'm thrilled that the Kimbell is able to provide this unique ... More |
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 MAXXI's First Birthday: 479,628 Visitors in 310 Days of Opening: 1,547 a DayROME.- MAXXI, the National Museum of XXI Century Arts designed by Zaha Hadid celebrated its first birthday having opened to the public on 30 May 2010 after a three-day inauguration (27, 28, 29). To mark the occasion there was a great family party on Saturday 28 May: the museum piazza was awash with the colours of the MAXXI windmills made by the visitors with the museum’s Education Department staff. Visitors to the museum received also an exclusive limited edition gift: a pin realised in collaboration with Il Gioco del Lotto and inspired by the fluid lines of Zaha Hadid’s architecture. 479,628 visitors in total (through to 30 May 2011) of which around 110,000 participating in the events hosted or produced by the museum | 310 days of opening | 1,547 visitors per day | over $2,600,000 taken in annual ticket sales | an average of $14 spent per visitor (the same as the Metropolitan Museum in NY). 1,100 guided tou ... More BP Portrait Award Art School Launched by Top British Paralympian As a Cultural Legacy for 2012LONDON.- Shelly Woods, one of the UK’s top wheelchair racers with sights set on London 2012, will take time away from the track to model in a drawing class at the National Portrait Gallery this summer. Shelly, who is one of BP’s London 2012 athlete ambassadors, will be the star attraction at two free Summer Schools for 14-19 year olds where past winners from the BP Portrait Award will draw and paint with young people from London, including some who have never drawn or stepped inside a gallery. While many are expected to take part from the five London 2012 Host Boroughs, a new website launched today www.npg.org.uk/bpnextgeneration will enable hundreds of thousands of young people worldwide to get involved. The three-year project will create free opportunities for 14–19-year-olds to engage with portraiture through the BP Portrait Award. It will b ... More Exciting New Dali Universe Exhibition Dedicated Entirely to Salvador Dali in the Heart of VeniceVENICE.- The Dali Universe in Venice is an exhibition entirely dedicated to Salvador Dali, with more than 100 Dali artworks on display. Visitors can admire a collection of artworks lesser known to the public, which include bronze sculpture, rare graphics portfolios, glass pate de verre sculptures and gold objets d’art. This is the only collection of its kind in the world, featuring the most important and largest grouping of Dalí sculptures. The Museo Santa Apollonia in Venice opens its doors to a unique show, curated by Mr Beniamino Levi, president of the Fondazione Ambrosiana. Mr Levi has thus far organised over 80 exhibitions of Dali artworks that have been seen by over 10 million people in numerous countries worldwide. Bronze sculptures on display include, Homage to Newton, Woman Aflame, Space Elephant and Toreador Hallucinogen. Each sculpture offers the visitor the chance to discover a new and unique aspect of ... More Face Contact: the Large Collective PHE11 Exhibition Opens at Fernán Gómez TheaterMADRID.- This morning Teatro Fernán Gómez. Centro de Arte/Fundación Banco Santander and PHotoEspaña have presented Face Contact, the flagship of the thematic selection. The exhibition gathers the work of 31 artists who have worked on portraiture and the portrait as an element of identification and communication, from the mid 1960s to the present day.The exhibition is organized by Fundación Banco Santander y PHotoEspaña in Collaboration with Área de las Artes del Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Face Contact offers a broad and yet potent vision of the theme of PHE11: Interfaces: Portrait and Communication. Through the work of 31 artists – among them Hans-Peter Feldmann, Shilpa Gupta, Mona Hatoum, Cristina Lucas, Liliana Porter, Jorge Ribalta, and Dayanita Singh – the series strives to address the notion of the portrait, but without constructing any totalizing thesis and seeking instead to have the works speak ... More Buckminster Fuller Dome Gets Rhode Island RestorationBRISTOL (AP).- A 24-foot-tall geodesic dome designed by architect and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller has been restored by a Rhode Island boat builder. The Buckminster Fuller Institute says the Fly's Eye dome was unveiled in Bristol on Wednesday. Fuller patented the dome in 1965 and created two prototypes, one 24-feet tall and another just over twice that height. He wrote of the dome structure that it could serve as a house "that weighs and costs about as much as a good automobile." Goetz Composites performed the restoration work in collaboration with the men who originally constructed the dome prototype with Fuller. The dome was restored ahead of its installation in Miami in December during Art Basel Miami Beach, an annual art fair. ... MoreSteven Holl Architects to Design New Institute for Contemporary Art at VCUNEW YORK, NY.- Steven Holl Architects in collaboration with BCWH Architects has won the commission for the new Institute for Contemporary Art for Virginia Commonwealth University. The building will create a new forum for the arts on campus and forge new connections to the arts community of the region. The 32,000 square-foot Institute for Contemporary Art will showcase the works of the VCU School of the Arts. The building will provide gallery spaces for traveling and school exhibits, classrooms, offices, art storage spaces and an auditorium, and accommodate a sculpture garden and a café. "Situated at one of the most traveled entrances to the city, the Institute for Contemporary Art will become the gateway and symbol of the creative energy of the city of Richmond," said Joseph H. Seip ... More Bonhams Hong Kong Sales Reach HK $200 Million (£15.6M) Milestone with 2011 Spring AuctionsHONG KONG.- Bonhams Hong Kong 2011 Spring Auctions held from 23 to 26 May at the Island Shangri-La Hotel came to a successful conclusion with exceptional results achieved at every sale. The seven sales rang up a total of over HK$212 million (16.5 million GBP), the first time the auction house reaches the magic milestone of HK$200 million (15.6 million GBP) in its four years of operation in Hong Kong. The Fine & Rare Wines and Rarest Whisky Auction held on 24 May saw spirited bidding by enthusiastic fine wine and whisky collectors with 92% of the wine lots sold for a total value of HK$8,686,048 (678,430 GBP). The top lots are Burgundian wines, with Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Assortments occupying four of the top ten lots. The top two lots are two cases of DRC assortments from vintage 1999 and 1996 which sold for HK$261,800 (20,447 GBP) and HK$202,300 (15,780 GBP) respectively. Achieving the third hi ... More |
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