| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Friday, June 12, 2020 |
| | | Tiny songbird is East Asia's 'oldest' carved artwork | |
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The tiny carving was discovered by lead author Zhanyang Li of Shandong University, who has been excavating parts of the Lingjing site since 2005.
by Kelly MacNamara
PARIS (AFP).- A miniature bird sculpted out of burnt bone in China around 13,500 years ago is the oldest known figurine from East Asia, according to researchers who discovered it in a refuse heap near an archaeological site. The carefully crafted depiction of a songbird on a pedestal -- smaller than an almond kernel -- was found among burnt animal remains and fragments of ceramics at Lingjing in north central Henan province, an area thought to have been home to some of China's earliest civilisations. The figurine is the "oldest known carving from East Asia", said Francesco D'Errico of the University of Bordeaux, who co-authored the research published in the journal PLOS One on Wednesday. "It shows that in this region sculpture starts at least 13,500 years ago, and fills in a gap in our knowledge about the origin of art in this vast region," he told AFP. ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Works by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt are projected on June 3, 2020 in Bordeaux at the "Bassins de Lumieres" digital art center as part of one of the center's opening exhibitions entitled "Gustav Klimt: gold and colour". Located in BordeauxÂs former submarine base, the Bassins de Lumières will present monumental immersive digital exhibitions devoted to the major artists in the history of art and contemporary art. GEORGES GOBET / AFP
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| | Christie's to offer the best painting by Wayne Thiebaud in private hands | | Modigliani expert says a nonprofit is holding his research 'hostage' | | Eli Wilner & Company announce its post Covid-19 reopening |
Wayne Thiebaud, Four Pinball Machines (detail). Estimate of $18-25 million. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
NEW YORK, NY.- On the precipice of the artists 100th birthday, Christies offers Wayne Thiebauds tour-de-force, Four Pinball Machines, 1962 as a central highlight of ONE: a Global Sale of the 20th Century on July 10. With an estimate of $18-25 million, the present painting is expected to more than double the artists world auction record currently held by Encased Cakes, 2011, which sold for $8.5 million in November 2019. This will mark the first time in almost 40 years that Four Pinball Machines will be exhibited. Alex Rotter, Chairman of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christies, remarked: It is always a privilege to have the opportunity to present a painting that is categorically recognized as one of the best works that an artist has ever created, but in this case it is particularly exciting given its prominence within the canon of Pop art. This is precisely the case with Thiebauds ... More | |
Amedeo Modigliani, the Italian painter known for his elongated, slender faces and figures, in an undated photo. The New York Times Photo Archive.
by Julia Jacobs
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- For more than three decades, Marc Restellinis life has been very much about his study of Amedeo Modigliani, the Italian painter known for his elongated, slender faces and figures. He has organized exhibitions of Modiglianis work in spots around the world and in the 1990s began his own magnum opus: a catalogue raisonné, or a definitive compendium, of Modiglianis work. He has been exhaustive in authenticating the artists work because Modigliani, whose paintings often sell for millions of dollars, has been a favorite of forgers. So to document their authenticity, Restellini, a French art scholar, has worked to persuade owners to submit their paintings for testing, sampled the paint, analyzed the works with infrared photography and ... More | |
Pablo Picasso, framed by Eli Wilner.
NEW YORK, NY.- Eli Wilner & Company has announced its post Covid-19 reopening, and the renowned framer is once again accepting new re-framing and frame restoration projects. These past few months, work by the companys master craftspeople has been paused as part of a NYC-wide shutdown. With restrictions being lifted, projects have cautiously resumed at both Wilners NYC Gallery and LI Studio locations. This month, Eli Wilner & Company will also be announcing the recipient of its 2020 Eli Wilner Museum Frame Restoration Grant. Dozens of applications have been received from our national museum community and are currently under review by a panel of distinguished jurors. This jury includes former museum directors, auction specialists, and prominent collectors. Eli Wilner & Company has over 10,000 projects featured in both private and public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Whitney Museu ... More |
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| | Enthustiastic online bidding spurs Hindman's Arts of the American West auction to $1.7M | | Eiffel Tower to reopen to public on June 25 | | 30 Sunflowers by David Hockney to lead Hong Kong Contemporary Art Evening Sale |
A 2001 oil on canvas by Martin Grelle (American, b. 1954) entitled A Warriors Pride sold for $52,500.
DENVER, CO.- Spurred by enthusiastic online bidding, Hindmans two-day Arts of the American West auction surpassed the presale estimate achieving a combined sale total of $1.7M. Online bidders participating on four separate platforms drove the action both days accounting for over half of the sales two-day total. The auction started strong with Session I: Western Paintings & Sculpture realizing a price of $1.3M, surpassing the presale high estimate by more than $100,000. Online bidders won nearly three-quarters of lots in the auction and accounted for over 60% of the sales dollar total. Our Western Art session garnered immense presale interest regardless of the current global circumstances. It was immensely gratifying to share the results with all our consignors. Collectors continue to enjoy our auctions which incorporate a mix of historic and contemporary Western art. This auction showed the continued demand for quali ... More | |
This file photo taken on April 1, 2020 shows the Eiffel Tower and deserted Esplanade du Trocadero in Paris, on the sixteenth day of a strict lockdown in France to stop the spread of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). BERTRAND GUAY / AFP.
PARIS (AFP).- The Eiffel Tower, one of the most visited sites in Paris, will reopen to the public on June 25 more than three months after shuttering in France's coronavirus lockdown, its operators said Tuesday. The 10-tonne metal landmark will emerge from its longest closure since World War II with limited visitor numbers at first, and face masks mandatory for all over the age of 11, said the Eiffel Tower website. "At first, only visits by the stairs will be available," and not by elevator, it said, as a means of ensuring a safe distance between people to limit infection risk. "To ensure that ascending and descending visitors do not meet in the stairs, ascent will take place from the East pillar and descent by the West pillar," added the website, with a limited number of visitors per floor at a time. The top level will ... More | |
David Hockney, 30 Sunflowers, 1996, oil on canvas, 182.9 by 182.9 cm. Estimate Upon Request. Courtesy Sotheby's.
HONG KONG.- Sothebys will present David Hockneys 30 Sunflowers from 1996, one of the most extraordinary and significant masterpieces from the artists visionary oeuvre, at the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Evening Sale, taking place on 9 July in Hong Kong. Created at a pivotal moment in both the personal life and professional career of the artist, 30 Sunflowers is a magnificent update of the classic still life for contemporary times, bearing strong reminiscence to Vincent van Goghs iconic Sunflowers while articulating an unabashedly radical yet intimately personal approach. Unseen in the market for almost a decade, the radiant, exuberant, and deeply poignant 30 Sunflowers is the supreme quintessence of Hockneys mature artistic output that powerfully establishes him as one of the greatest figurative painters of the twentieth century. "We are deeply honoured to present ... More |
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| | Phillips announces additional highlights for Hong Kong July sales of 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design | | Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam commits to fighting racism | | Egypt cleans up for return of tourists |
Liu Ye Girl!, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 44.7 cm. Estimate: HKD 3,800,000 4,800,000 (To be offered in the Day Sale). Image courtesy of Phillips.
HONG KONG.- Phillips announced additional highlights ahead of the Hong Kong July auctions of 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design, following the earlier announcement about two rare masterpieces by Zao Wou-Ki from the artists Hurricane Period. The sales feature works by a rich diversity of contemporary artists including pioneering figures such as Yoshitomo Nara, Liu Ye, Zhang Xiaogang, as well as the likes of Nicolas Party, Eddie Martinez, Jonas Wood, and MADSAKI, who are some of the most sought-after names in the art market today. As demand for works by female artists has risen sharply in recent years, Phillips is presenting a spotlight selection of works by female artists including Nicole Eisenman, Christine Ay Tjoe, Genieve Figgis, Claire Tabouret and Firenze Lai. In addition, Phillips has commissioned Chinese female designer Li Naihan to curate ... More | |
Farida Sedoc, No Justice No Peace, 2020.
AMSTERDAM.- The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam watches, listens and learns from the worldwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations and wishes to be an ally in the struggle against racism. The Stedelijk stands for an open and tolerant society, one in which everyone should be able to feel at home. And yet at the same time, the museum is aware that, as an institution, it is on the brink of change and must take bold steps to address and dismantle institutional racism. The museum is committed to taking these steps. Upon close examination of the Stedelijks collection, it is clear that the museum has not made enough progress acquiring work by artists of color and non-Western artists. Historically, these groups have been systematically excluded, ignored and overlooked. And because of this, the museum does not reflect society as it should. The Stedelijk realizes that in order to correct this historical imbalance and the lack of diversity reflected in ... More | |
Egyptian municipality workers disinfect the Giza pyramids. Khaled DESOUKI / AFP.
by Emmanuel Parisse
CAIRO (AFP).- Hotels have ramped up hygiene, archaeological sites have been sanitised and beaches cleaned up -- Egypt is gearing up to welcome back tourists kept away by the coronavirus pandemic. "We are laying the groundwork for tourists from around the world to find this destination ... in exemplary sanitary conditions," Egypt's antiquities and tourism minister, Khaled al-Anani, told AFP. Egypt has since March halted air traffic and shuttered archaeological sites, museums and hotels to stem the spread of COVID-19. The North African country, like others, has in recent weeks started loosening confinement measures as it looks to slowly open up to tourists in the summer season. "We are waiting for our curve (of contaminations) to stabilise," the minister said. Conditions for international tourism will be announced in the "coming days", ... More |
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| | MAGMA gallery opens a double-show with Franco Fasoli and Hell'O Collective | | French policeman at Bataclan attack found stolen Banksy door in Italy | | Waddington Custot digital solo exhibition series continues with a presentation of sculptures by David Annesley |
Franco Fasoli, Una fuerza inagotable II, 2019. Collage on canvas, 120 x 77cm.
BOLOGNA.- MAGMA gallery presents Someone is watching you, a double-show with Franco Fasoli and HellO Collective, from June 6 to July 11, 2020. Two international names whose work is united by bright colors and compositions that refer to a surreal universe, declined in two different ways. The Belgian duo HellO Collective, through rigorous execution, represents a world of bizarre and mysterious figures similar to a dreamlike vision or a symbolic puzzle. Franco Fasoli works instead, more figuratively, on the theme of identity and on the relationship between global culture and subcultures, representing with a touch of irony scenes of everyday life, private spaces, or staging conflicts and clashes between allegorical figures half man and half beast which visually seem to be part of a surreal world, but semantically refer to a well-defined social and identity reality. Franco Fasoli (also known as Jaz - Buen ... More | |
The work was found in an abandoned farmhouse in Abruzzo, according to l'Aquila prosecutor Michele Renzo, who said further details would be provided on Thursday.
L'AQUILA (AFP).- A French policeman who intervened during the 2015 terror attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris was overcome with emotion when he and his team found a stolen work in Italy by famed British street artist Banksy commemorating the victims, his colleague said Thursday. The image of a girl in mourning was painted on one of the emergency doors of the Parisian venue, where Islamic State gunmen massacred 90 people. It had been cut out and taken in 2019. Italian and French police found it on Wednesday in the attic of a small farmstead in the Abruzzo region in central Italy, rented by a Chinese family. Officers said the family did not appear to be connected to the crime. Christophe Cengig from the Organised Crime Unit at the French embassy in Rome told AFP that an unnamed colleague who had seen victims ... More | |
David Annesley, Mirror, 2019. From an edition of 3 painted aluminium, 219 x 219 x 62 cm.
LONDON.- David Annesley, continues the Waddington Custot digital solo exhibition series, with a presentation of recent sculptures by British artist David Annesley. The second iteration of the NEW WORK initiative celebrates Annesleys return to making, following an extended hiatus The new online presentation is held over fifty years after Annesleys first exhibition with Waddington Custot, held at the gallery in 1966. The exhibition includes four unseen works by Annesley, which relate to pieces the artist began making in the 1960s, following his studies under Anthony Caro at St Martins School of Art and subsequent inclusion in The New Generation: 1965 show at Londons Whitechapel Gallery. These works continue Annesleys revolutionary approach to colour and form. Fluid geometrical structures are used as vehicles to explore colour relationships, relative to space and movement. The new works each combine two r ... More |
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The Royal Legacy of "Les Jardinières"
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Holabird Americana Collections announces 7-day summer 2020 Extravaganza auction
RENO, NEV.- A Summer 2020 Extravaganza Auction so massive it is being spread over two separate weekends, two weeks apart, is planned for June 25-28 and July 10-12 by Holabird Western Americana Collections, LLC, live and online, with start times each day of 8am Pacific time. The sale features a number of important collections of Americana over 4,800 lots in all. The auction is packed with numismatics, mining, railroadiana, Native Americana and more. Online bidding will be facilitated by iCollector.com, LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com, AuctionMobility.com and Auctionzip.com. Telephone and absentee bids will also be accepted. The auction features several important collections, offered in part now and in upcoming sales. An example is the John Reynolds collection, parts of which were offered in two prior sales. On Days 1 and 4, ... More
Lockdown provides the perfect time to buy a project/restoration bike to work on in your garage at home
WARRINGTON.- The next H&H Classics Live Auction Online on June 24th includes a number of great barn find project bikes. Each would be the perfect opportunity to keep you busy and happy working in your garage until we are all free of lockdown. If youve found boredom a problem this might be the answer. Most of these bikes, hauled out of barns and garages across Britain by Mark Bryan of H&H Classics Motorcycle Department offers the keen engineer hours of happy tinkering. And at the end of the day you will have a wonderful machine to ride and show with the satisfaction of knowing you have saved a piece of motorcycling heritage and with parts readily available online, whats stopping you? A lot of the bikes will be sold with No Reserve. Included in the June 24th sale are a private collection of NSUs from the 1950s/60s. Expensive in the day ... More
Leading foundations unveil historic effort to stabilize nonprofit sector amid COVID-19
NEW YORK, NY.- The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announced a joint commitment to increase their payouts to nonprofit organizations with over $1.7 billion over approximately two years to help stabilize and sustain a nonprofit sector facing devastating economic effects due to the global pandemic and epidemic of social injustice. This financial commitment represents new funding above the previously approved budgets by each foundation's board. Each foundation will determine priorities for the distribution of the new funds based on its grantmaking guidelines and priorities. Generally, in the aggregate, funds will cover grantmaking aligned with each foundation's mission, including racial equity and social justice, arts and culture, ... More
Indian head gold paces near-$12 million at Long Beach Expo Auctions
DALLAS, TX.- It was a pair of rare Indian Eagles bidder pursued to top lot honors in Heritage Auctions Long Beach Expo U.S. Coins Auction, as the two high-grade examples led more than 1,400 lots offered June 4-7. The U.S. Coins portion of the auctions brought a combined $11,051,014. Although the Long Beach Expo was cancelled due to the pandemic scare, we were glad to relocate the auctions to HA.com, said Jim Halperin, Co-Founder of Heritage Auctions. The stunningly rare final ten dollar Issue of a 1933 Indian Eagle, MS65 PCGS, sold for $408,000. The coin is one of perhaps 30 to 40 examples known to exist and comes with a storied history. Almost the entire mintage of 1933 Wagles were melted soon after the coins were struck, when the Gold Recall of 1933 discontinued regular-issue U.S. gold coinage forever. The U.S. gold coinage for ... More
Vancouver Art Gallery reopens on June 15
VANCOUVER.- Following health and safety protocols from the BC government and provincial health officials, the Vancouver Art Gallery will reopen on June 15. The Gallery aims to provide a welcoming and safe environment so that all visitors can enjoy the Gallerys exhibitions with ease. The Gallery salutes the tireless work and sacrifices of BCs frontline workers Vancouver's local heroes during these extraordinary times and the gallery will offer them two mornings of free, early access admission during the first week of reopening. Art can help us to heal and provide opportunities for reflection, laughter and joy, something we can all use after this lengthy period of isolation, shared Daina Augaitis, Interim Director. "With plenty of room for physical distancing, the Gallery offers a safe space for visitors to revisit their favourite artworks or discover new ... More
Albert Memmi, a 'Jewish Arab' intellectual, dies at 99
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Albert Memmi, a leading mid-20th century French intellectual and writer best known for nonfiction books and novels that unraveled his anomalous identity as an ardent anti-imperialist, an unapologetic Zionist and a self-described Jewish Arab, died May 22 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. He was 99. His death was announced by Olivier Poivre dArvor, the French ambassador to Tunisia, where Memmi was born and raised when it was a French protectorate. Although he was overshadowed by Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre (both of whom wrote introductions to his books), Memmi was celebrated in Europe and Africa as an author and sociologist. Among his best-known books, some of which were later translated into English, were The Pillar of Salt (1953) and Strangers (1955), both autobiographical novels; ... More
Return of the rostrum! Live jewellery auctions resume at Sotheby's this summer
GENEVA.- Sothebys Jewellery auctioneers will once again raise their hammers over the next few weeks, as live auctions resume, offering world-class treasures to a dynamic and diverse global audience of collectors. As evidenced by record-breaking online sales at Sothebys throughout the spring, the breadth and passion for exceptional jewels and gemstones continues to drive the auction market. Originally scheduled for April and May, the upcoming Geneva and Hong Kong sales on 23 June and 10 July will feature exceptional property with noble provenance, including a diamond bracelet gifted to Princess Margaret, the Queens sister, on her 21st Birthday. Alongside these treasures, Sothebys global team of experts has brought together an extraordinary group of rare coloured diamonds, led by four stones with a combined estimate in excess of US$ ... More
Diamonds That Care to offer three pieces of jewellery by Anna Hu
NEW YORK, NY.- An online auction of three stunning pieces of jewelry, created by Anna Hu, will take place from July 3 -13 with proceeds going to support healthcare workers fighting against the coronavirus. The pieces will be sold by Diamonds That Care, the newly launched social responsibility initiative of Alrosa, the worlds largest diamond mining company. The initiatives main idea is that every diamond should help those in need. Ms. Hu created these unique pieces exclusively for this charity project using rich brown diamonds extracted by Alrosa in Yakutia, a region in the Siberian Far East. Proceeds from the sale will assist healthcare workers who continue to work at the center of efforts to combat the pandemic. The project is organized in cooperation with the non-profit charitable organization Diamonds Do Good. We are living in a different world, where ... More
Lennie Niehaus, who set Eastwood's films to music, dies at 90
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Lennie Niehaus, who became well known as an alto saxophonist and arranger for jazz bandleader Stan Kenton in the 1950s before turning to a career as a composer of film scores, notably for Clint Eastwood movies like Bird and Unforgiven, died May 28 at his daughters home in Redlands, in Southern California. He was 90. His son-in-law, Owen Sheeran, said the cause was probably heart-related. Niehaus had been with the Kenton band for several months when he was drafted into the Army in 1952. He played in the base band at Fort Ord in Northern California and in a quartet that performed at noncommissioned officers clubs where Eastwood, a jazz lover, was a regular. He returned to Kentons band in 1954 and remained until 1959, but he did not reconnect with Eastwood until the 1970s. By then, Niehaus ... More
Vilified for virus, bats are a new album's seductive stars
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- On an unseasonably cool evening in late May, Stuart Hyatt emerged from his home in Indianapolis holding a small black box. The moment he stepped outside, the box began to chatter and click. Whoa, can you hear that? he said, grinning on a FaceTime call. I have never seen them fly this low. His neighborhood bats had arrived, chasing their nightly meal of insects. And, as usual, Hyatt was there to listen and marvel, the black box allowing the bats usually inaudible chatter to be heard, even through a cellphone. Bats have lately been enduring yet another image crisis. Believed to be ancient harbors of coronaviruses, they are reportedly being killed in India and vilified most everywhere for the outbreak. Over the past two years, though, bats have been Hyatts chief musical inspiration. He has recorded their sounds ... More
Sotheby's Hong Kong announces Contemporary Art Spring Sales
HONG KONG.- Sothebys Contemporary Art Spring 2020 Sales, scheduled for 9 10 July 2020 in Hong Kong, will present a highly curated selection of distinguished works by Western and Asian artists. Led by important masterpieces by David Hockney and Liu Ye, the Evening Sale showcases an international line-up of works by blue-chip Western artists alongside the most prominent Asian names, including Clyfford Still, Albert Oehlen, Kazuo Shiraga, Yayoi Kusama and Yoshitomo Nara, amongst many others. Offered across the Evening and Day Sales is The Art of Life: Property from a Distinguished Asian Private Collector and Important Patron of the Arts, a superlative selection of art, design and sculptural pieces. Led by illustrious works by François-Xavier Lalanne and Antony Gormley, the eclectic group also includes quality works by reputable ... More
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PhotoGalleries
POP Power
Mia Photo Fair 2020
Susan Rothenberg (1945 Â 2020)
Southern Light
Flashback On a day like today, Austrian painter Egon Schiele was born June 12, 1890. Egon Schiele (12 June 1890 - 31 October 1918) was an Austrian painter. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, Schiele was a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and the many self-portraits the artist produced, including naked self-portraits. In this image: Egon Schiele, Häuser mit bunter Wäsche,ÂVorstadt II, 1914. Estimate: £22-30 million/ $36-50 million. Photo: Sotheby's.
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