| The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Saturday, November 19, 2016 |
| | | Portrait of Russia's last tsar found hidden under a layer of water-soluble paint | |
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A picture taken in Saint Petersburg on November 17, 2016 shows restorers of the Stieglitz Art and Industry Academy displaying the full-size portrait of Vladimir Lenin by Vladislav Izmailovich (1924) painted on the back of the canvas with the portrait Tsar Nicholas II by Ilya Galkin (1896). A portrait of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, remained hidden for nearly a century under a portrait of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, and discovered by chance will soon be exhibited in Saint Petersburg, according to restorers. Olga MALTSEVA / AFP.
by Marina Koreneva
SAINT PETERSBURG.- Russian art restorers on Friday unveiled a recently discovered portrait of the last Tsar Nicholas II, almost a century after it was hidden behind a giant painting of his Bolshevik foe Lenin. A team of art restorers led by Tatiana Potseluyeva painstakingly uncovered the tsar's image over the last three years. The portrait of Nicholas -- shot by the Bolsheviks in 1918 -- was hidden under a layer of water-soluble paint, suggesting it was meant to be preserved and eventually found. "The ceremonial portrait painted by Ilya Galkin in 1896 was hidden for almost 90 years on the back of another portrait -- depicting Lenin," Potseluyeva told AFP. Galkin, a little-known artist who painted several portraits of tsars, died in 1915 before the October Revolution of 1917. The portrait of Lenin wearing a peaked c ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day An employee poses by a work of art entitled 'Crowd Sourced Wall' during a photocall at the new Design Museum in Kensington, London on November 17, 2016. British architectural designer John Pawson has remodelled the interior of the former Commonwealth Institute building in west London. BEN STANSALL / AFP
| Around Auschwitz, Holocaust items rescued from oblivion | | Monroe's 'Happy Birthday Mr. President' gown sold for $4.8m. | | Artists announced for the 2017 Whitney Biennial |
A gold ring that was found by curators of Auschwitz - Birkenau Museum. BARTOSZ SIEDLIK / AFP.
BRZEZINKA (AFP).- Things are looking good for a group of unusual treasure hunters who have already removed dozens of items from a small wooden cabin in southern Poland. The hut is located near the barbed wire fence surrounding the former Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, and those emptying it are a group of history buffs who work to locate and preserve Holocaust items scattered around the area. "This metal container must have been a washbasin for the camp's inmates," explains 43-year-old Dag Kopijasz, a diving instructor who devotes himself to local history in his free time. "There's also a stool, hangers, an ammunition box and dishes." There are also dishes embossed with two lightening bolts, the insignia of the SS, the notorious armed wing of the Nazi party. "These here are plates from a set of dishes from the SS dining hall," he says. "The SS dining hall wasn't far from here, and behind us ... More | |
The dress worn by Marilyn Monroe when she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to US President John F. Kennedy in May 1962, is displayed. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP.
LOS ANGELES (AFP).- The figure-hugging gown Marilyn Monroe wore to serenade President John F. Kennedy for his 45th birthday smashed its guide price to sell for $4.8 million at auction on Thursday. The flesh-colored dress, adorned with 2,500 hand-stitched crystals, had been expected to fetch between $2-3 million, Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills said. It went to Ripley's Believe It or Not!, an American media empire specializing in bizarre and historically significant items which owns a chain of museums, including one in Hollywood. The dress was so tight on Monroe that the legendary actress wore nothing underneath and had to be sewn into it at the last minute before stepping on stage at Madison Square Garden in 1962 to sing to JFK in her trademark sultry voice, according to the auction house. First auctioned by Christie's in 1999, ... More | |
Susan Cianciolo, Untitled, 2000. Watercolor on paper, 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm). Courtesy the artist and Bridget Donahue, New York.
NEW YORK, NY.- The formation of self and the individuals place in a turbulent society are among the key themes reflected in the work of the artists selected for the 2017 Whitney Biennial, opening at the Whitney Museum of American Art on March 17, and running through June 11. Curated by the Whitneys Nancy and Fred Poses Associate Curator Christopher Y. Lew and independent curator Mia Locks, this will be the first Biennial held in the Whitneys home in the Meatpacking District. The countrys preeminent survey of the current state of American art, this is the seventy-eighth in the Museums ongoing series of Annuals and Biennials, initiated by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1932. Lew and Locks named the sixty-three participants, whose works will fill two of the four main gallery floors of the Whitney (including the 18,000-square-foot Neil Bluhm Family Galleries on the fifth floor) ... More |
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| Columbia Museum of Art receives landmark art donation from Columbia Donors George and Chee Chee Walker | | John Lennon's angry letter to Linda and Paul McCartney sold for almost $30k at auction | | Sotheby's New York Contemporary Art Evening Auction totals $276.7 million |
Hilda Belcher American, (1881-1963), Scarlet and Blue, 1926. Oil on canvas. Framed: 50 x 40 inches. Gift from the Estate of George and Chee Chee Walker.
COLUMBIA, SC.- The Columbia Museum of Art received ten works of art from the estate of George and Chee Chee Walker. Informed and enthusiastic art collectors, the couple were dedicated patrons of the CMA for decades. Their generous gift to the community consists of seven paintings, two watercolors, and a bronze sculpture by internationally recognized British, European, and American artists. Le Sidaners Les Iles Borromées (The Borromean Islands), the star of the bequest, will be on display in the CMA Collection starting November 21. George and Chee Chee were ideal friends, says Executive Director Karen Brosius. They will be missed, and their traditional blend of elegance and erudition not replaced. We are most grateful to them, and to their family, for this remarkable gift of art. Having their art on view will be a memorable artistic legacy for all to enjoy, and ... More | |
The draft letter that is believed to date from 1971 was allegedly in response to criticism that Lennon had received from Linda about his decision to not publicly announce his departure from the band. Courtesy: RR Auction.
BOSTON, MASS.- A scathing letter John Lennon had written to Linda and Paul McCartney sold for $29,843 according to Boston-based RR Auction. The two-page typed letter with hand-written annotations by Lennon, that shows the extent of his bitterness after the break-up of the Beatles. The draft letter that is believed to date from 1971 was allegedly in response to criticism that Lennon had received from Linda about his decision to not publicly announce his departure from the band. The letter reads: I was reading your letter and wondering what middle aged cranky Beatle fan wrote it. I resisted looking at the last page to find out. I kept thinking who is it, Queenie? Stuarts mother? Clive Epsteins wife? Alan Williams? What the hell - its Linda! Who do you think we/you are? The ... More | |
Bidders from 38 countries, Asian participation up 11% year-on-year. Photo: Sotheby's.
NEW YORK, NY.- Tonight we were pleased to continue the string of successes that we have achieved in the field throughout 2016, commented Grégoire Billault, Head of Sothebys Contemporary Art Department in New York. It was a privilege to offer the collection of the season that of Steven and Ann Ames and we were thrilled to deliver exceptional results, led by the top Richter price of the week. We carefully assembled a sale to match the demands of todays collectors, and the market responded. Fourth Consecutive Sothebys Contemporary Evening Auction with an 85%+ Sell-Through Rate - Artist Records for David Hockney and Njideka Akunyili Crosby Records for Works on Paper by Mark Grotjahn and Mike Kelley The Steven & Ann Ames Collection featured superb groupings of works by Gerhard Richter and Willem de Kooning: o Purchased 25 years ago at Sothebys New York for $264,000, Gerhard ... More |
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| Clinton and 'sisters' captured by Leibovitz lens | | The National Galleries of Scotland partners to help secure painting | | Artcurial announces a simultaneous auction in Paris and Marrakech |
Photographer Annie Leibovitz attends Annie Leibovitz's "Women: New Portraits". Roy Rochlin/Getty Images/AFP.
NEW YORK (AFP).- Some of the world's most irrepressible women stare out in neat rows from the walls of Annie Leibovitz's latest photo exhibit. Among them is Hillary Clinton, pictured above the words: "Never, never, never give up." The acclaimed photographer willingly admits that Clinton's shock defeat in last week's presidential election has cast a bit of a shadow over her travelling show, entitled simply "Women." "This is not how we imagined this week would turn out," she told reporters at the gallery hosting the project -- formerly a women's prison in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. What was designed as an exuberant and joyful exhibit, she says, now appears more as an "emotional, sobering celebration" following the Democrat's second failed attempt to break the highest glass ceiling of all. The 67-year-old Leibovitz is acclaimed for decades of celebrity portraits, ... More | |
Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73), The Monarch of the Glen, c.1851. Oil on canvas, 163.8 x 169 cm.
EDINBURGH.- It was announced today that the National Galleries of Scotland has entered into a partnership agreement with Diageo with the aim of securing The Monarch of the Glen by Sir Edwin Landseer for permanent public display in Scotland. Under the arrangement Diageo has agreed to gift half the estimated market value of the painting to allow NGS the opportunity to acquire the work. NGS will now embark on a fundraising campaign to secure £4 million to bring the painting into its collection and allow the painting to pass from private to public hands for the first time in its history. Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland welcomed Diageos partnership approach. He said: We are delighted with this grand gesture by Diageo which offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for this major work to be acquired for the nation. The Monarch of the Glen is an iconic image which is famous across the world. ... More | |
Dia Al-Azzawi, Hot day, 2010. Acrylique sur toile, 102 x 77cm.
PARIS.- The love story between Artcurial and Morocco continues with a simultaneous auction in Paris and Marrakech held on 29th December 2016. Paris#Marrakech will present 80 works over two chapters. The first will be dedicated to the third edition of Majorelle and his contemporaries and the second focuses on International Contemporary and Modern art, mixing Western and Middle-Eastern works. A painting by the Moroccan pop art artist Mohamed Melehi dating back to 1971 is estimated at 40 000 - 50 000 / 44 000 55 000 $ and a rare bronze by Mahmoud Mokhtar, the godfather of modern Egyptian sculpture, (estimation 200 000 - 300 000 / 220 000 - 330 000 $), will be presented alongside works by Bernard Buffet, Raoul Dufy, Arman and César. Artcurial is the leading auction house in the development of cultural events in Morocco and in 2011 organised the first edition of Majorelle and his contemporaries, foll ... More |
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| Dallas Museum of Art announces acquisition of iconic "Drape" painting by Sam Gilliam | | Grey Flannel presents top-quality game-used memorabilia from titans of major sports | | Homo Americanus: Exhibition of works by Raymond Pettibon opens at Museum der Moderne Salzburg |
Sam Gilliam, Leaf, 1970, acrylic on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Timothy C. Headington.
DALLAS, TX.- The Dallas Museum of Art today announced that it has acquired Sam Gilliams Leaf. The 1970 acrylic on canvas is a major example of Gilliams Drape paintings, an approach that pushed Gilliam beyond chromatic and geometric temperance toward an uninhibited, expressive inventiveness. As the first work by Gilliam to enter the DMAs collection, Leaf advances and complements the DMAs holdings in postwar abstraction, particularly its collection of works related to the Washington Color School including Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland and Paul Reed. It is among the first acquisitions under AgustÃn Arteaga, the Dallas Museum of Arts new Eugene McDermott Director, who began in his new role in September 2016. As the DMAs first work by Gilliam, Leaf allows the exploration of more nuanced histories within the galleries and collection, and advances our commitment to expanding art historical narratives, ... More | |
1939 George Selkirk New York Yankees game-used pinstriped home flannel jersey with his right-field predecessor Babe Ruths iconic number 3 on the back, Championship season, reserve: $5,000
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ.- Sports memorabilia collectors know the holiday season has arrived when Grey Flannel Auctions announces its December auction catalog is ready. That time has come, with almost 1,000 generously illustrated, premium-quality lots now available to peruse and bid on at www.GreyFlannelAuctions.com. All major sports are represented, with an emphasis on provenance, authenticity and rarity throughout the auction lineup. Baseball fans whove ever dreamed of going back in time to experience the electrifying era of the one and only Babe Ruth can come close to that feeling with the sales first four lots. Lot 1 is a fabulous photo of the Bambino in a casual pose with his arm around another Yankee legend, Lou Gehrig. The shot was taken during the 1927-28 Barnstorming tour, which pitted ... More | |
Raymond Pettibon, No Title (In all of . . .), 1983. Pen and ink on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm). Deichtorhallen Hamburg / Sammlung Falckenberg.
SALZBURG.- The Museum der Moderne Salzburg presents a unique exhibition of the work of the American artist Raymond Pettibon (b. Tucson, Arizona, 1957, lives in New York) on level 3 of its Mönchsberg venue. Over the past decades, Pettibon has created a sprawling and idiosyncratic oeuvre that has made him one of the most influential artists of his time. His sharp critique of contemporary culture and society draws on the literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as well as popular culture. In his drawings, text and image blend into each other to create a harsh yet poetic language. For over four decades, Pettibon has dissected stereotypes of the American mainstream as well as its subculture. Homo Americanus is Pettibons emblematic depiction of the myth of America and a reality dominated, in his vision, by phony morality and the decline of civilization, says Sabine Breitwieser, ... More |
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Mannequin Challenge: New York Public Library
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Peabody Essex Museum announces partnership with Google Cultural Institute
SALEM, MASS.- The Peabody Essex Museum announced today that it will join 1,000+ existing art collections online through Google Arts & Culture, a collaboration between Google and cultural partners who work to preserve and promote culture online. PEMs first online exhibition will feature a curated selection of works from the museums Chester & Davida Herwitz Collection, the largest and most important assemblage of modern Indian art outside of India. Produced by Googles not for profit Cultural Institute, Google Arts & Culture enables cultural institutions to easily share their collections of artworks, artifacts and archives with the world, including first-person walk-through experiences, as part of its collection of museums. By making immersive views of the museums galleries available online, including detailed, high-resolution images of select objects, PEM aims to share ... More
Exhibition focuses on high-quality craftsmanship
GHENT.- Hands on Design showcases design, developed and made by drawing on the innovative power of crafts thought. Interested in the chemistry between designer/maker and companies? Discover it this autumn at Design museum Gent. Hands on Design focuses on high-quality craftsmanship, displaying it in over 70 contemporary objects. This high-quality craftsmanship is present in all objects, but it is often invisible. According to Glenn Adamson, author of Craft Thinking, this is because we still see crafts in a supporting role, despite the fact that no added value is possible without craftsmanship. In Hands on Design, curator Johan Valcke is making that supporting element, that invisible facet, visible. That invisible facet is the prior process, from sketch to computer model to prototype and finally to the end product. At just about all stages of this process the ... More
Dylan to come to Stockholm next year: Swedish Academy
STOCKHOLM (AFP).- Music icon Bob Dylan is expected to come to Stockholm next spring, as the winner of this year's Nobel prize in literature will skip the award ceremony in December, a Swedish academy member said on Friday. Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, told public Swedish radio that she received confirmation from Dylan's manager. "Then he will have an excellent opportunity to hold his lecture," Danius said. Holding a lecture is the only requirement for the Nobel laureate and must be done within six months starting from December 10. The Swedish Academy said the American song writer might perform in the Nordic nation next year. "There is a chance that Bob Dylan will be performing in Stockholm next year, possibly in the spring, in which case he will have a perfect opportunity to deliver his lecture," it said in a statement. On Wednesday, ... More
Contemporary African Art Sale this week achieves top prices at French auctioneer Piasa
PARIS.- Closing a busy month for African Contemporary Art, with the fairs 1:54 in London and AKAA in Paris, collectors gathered at PIASA on November 17 for an auction devoted to the African art scene. This second Origins & Trajectories sale ran to 86 lots and enjoyed great success, with a top price of 86,000 for a 1994 Untitled by the Egyptian artist Ghada Amer, whose woven works reproduce erotic scenes that treat the delicately intimate subjects of love and pleasure (lot 81). Benins Romuald Hazoumè, another big name in this market, also aroused great interest. His hallmark masks were recently shown in the exhibition Picasso Mania at the Grand Palais in Paris. The mask offered at PIASA, entitled Azonto, fetched 18,950. It offers a new take on the traditional African mask, using recovered items like plastic, fabric and fibre (lot 19). Another auction highlight was Peinture ... More
When Cohen, Lorca, rock and flamenco came together
BARCELONA (AFP).- It's a documentary about an album, but not just any album: one that fused the poetry of the late Leonard Cohen and Federico Garcia Lorca with the voice of flamenco giant Enrique Morente. Released in Spain on Friday just one week after the death of the Canadian poet and musician, the documentary tells the story of "Omega", which became one of the most innovative albums in the history of flamenco when it came out in 1996. Morente controversially joined forces with alternative rock band Lagartija Nick to adapt the words of Lorca and Cohen songs such as "Hallelujah" or "First we take Manhattan" in Spanish. For Cohen, a huge admirer of flamenco and Lorca -- so much so that he named his daughter after the Spanish poet -- the record was a delight. "He was hugely pleased, hugely moved. 'This is the best thing that has happened to me', he ... More
Jessie Kang appointed Sotheby's Head of Watches, Asia
HONG KONG.- Sothebys announced the appointment of Jessie Kang as Head of Watches, Asia. Ms. Kang will work closely with Maria Kelly, International Division Director Jewellery & Watches, and with Sothebys international team of specialists, in driving the Companys business in auctions and private sales of watches in Asia. Maria Kelly, International Division Director Jewellery & Watches at Sothebys, notes, Asia remains an important market for Sothebys global watch business and we are committed to investing in the development of our regional team. We are delighted to welcome Jessie, whose outstanding track record and extensive business network make her the ideal candidate to be Sothebys Head of Watches, Asia. Our worldwide watch team looks forward to working with Jessie to continue offering our collectors the finest timepieces, further strengthening ... More
Michener Art Museum achieves Google technology milestone
DOYLESTOWN, PA.- A celebrated mural among the 3,000 objects in the permanent collection of the James A. Michener Art Museum -- A Wooded Watershed by Pennsylvania Impressionist painter Daniel Garber-- is now the largest gigapixel painting captured to date with the Google Art Camera. The 22-foot, lunette-shaped mural is featured along with 132 other objects in the Michener Art Museum's collection in super high resolution on the Google Cultural Institute's Art Project, which invites people throughout the world to explore paintings, sculptures, prints, and photographs online. "We are profoundly honored that A Wooded Watershed, which has long been a focal point of our collection, is now the largest piece in the Google Cultural Institute's Art Project captured with the Google Art Camera," said Lisa Tremper Hanover, director and CEO of the Michener Art ... More
Tristan Hoare opens exhibition of new works by French-born Lebanese artist Flavie Audi
LONDON.- Tristan Hoare is presenting Cell-estial, an exhibition of new works by French-born Lebanese artist Flavie Audi. Audi is best known for her gem-like glass sculptures, but for this exhibition she also includes photography and film as a means to investigate the points at which the natural and artificial worlds meet. In essence, glass is a naturally occurring, organic material, yet through its modern usage in mobile and TV screens it has taken on technological significance as an interface through which real and virtual worlds are mediated and it is this collision of realities that is at the heart of Audis practice. To explore how these realms interact, the show has been divided into two distinct installations, one representing the physical, the other digital, chaotic nature placed alongside the rational and man-made. The first installation, the Physical Realm, is displayed in the gallerys ... More
Universal artist Josef Hoffmann stars at Dorotheum's Jugendstil Auction
VIENNA.- More than any other name, Joseph Hoffmann evokes the concept of the "Gesamtkunstwerk" and the work of the "Wiener Werkstätte", making him one of the most prominent proponents of Austrian art. The Dorotheum Jugendstil auction on 1st December 2016 will feature several examples of his exceptional creativity as well as a wide range of other period objects. There can be no doubt that, were he alive today, Hoffman would still be among the most sought-after architects and interior designers. Back in 1913/14 he designed the country residence of the Primavesi family in Winkelsdorf (Lower Austria) which became famous for its artist parties, attended, among others, by Hoffmann himself as well as Gustav Klimt, Anton Hanak, Kolo Moser and Dagobert Peche, as can be seen in numerous family photographs. The Dorotheum auction includes the 4 by 3 m carpet, ... More
Kunsthalle Basel opens exhibition of paintings by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
BASEL.- The exhibition is filled with figures that gaze directly, almost defiantly, at you. Others stand with arms akimbo, averting their eyes, or look pensive as they lounge in the soft embrace of a couch or hammock. Still others hold extravagant birds (an owl in one, a peacock in another) as if the acts were as usual as holding the daily news- paper, or they tense their arms and legs with the poise of a well-trained dancer. They are all beautiful without being model-like, serious without seeming stern, and well dressed without appearing to have tried too hard. There are rarely any identifiers of an exact time or place in which they stand or lie or lean or sit. There is no context for them, you could say, except their very selves. And in those selves there is nonchalance, refinement, calm intelligence. Also intensity, human depth, and a justness (someone wearing those threads would ... More
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Flashback On a day like today, American clothing designer Calvin Klein was born November 19, 1942. Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer of Hungarian origin who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry. In this image: Fashion designer Calvin Klein is seen in New York, June 28, 1983.
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