| The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Thursday, November 17, 2016 |
| | | Claude Monet haystack painting takes record $81.4 million at Christie's New York | |
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Top lot of the sale: Claude Monet?s Meule sold for $81,447,500 (£65,210,168 / ?75,774,215) © Christies Images Limited 2016.
NEW YORK (AFP).- A Claude Monet painting, "Meule," part of his famous grainstack series, sold at auction in New York Wednesday for 81.4 million dollars, a record for the French master, Christie's said. The previous record was in June 2008. At the time, "Bassin aux nympheas" ("Water Lilies") took $ 80.4 million at a sale in London. The final price, which includes fees and commission, crushed Christie's pre-sale estimate of $45 million. The auction lasted nearly fifteen minutes, an unusual length for a sale of this format. A woman in the room stayed in the running for some time before making a last offer of $53 million and leaving it to buyers being handled over the phone. ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Belgian pilots Alexandra Maingard and her husband Cedric Collette fly their vintage Stampe OO-GWB biplane by one of the Pyramids of Giza, on the southern outskirts of the Egyptian capital Cairo on November 13, 2016 during the Vintage Air Rally (VAR). A dozen biplanes from the 1920s and 1930s are flying 8,000 miles from Crete to Cape Town in a vintage aviation rally that harks back to the early days of air travel. KHALED DESOUKI / AFP
| Mystery thickens over whether Van Gogh 'notebook' is real | | De Kooning painting sold for record $66.3 million | | Rare blue diamond goes under hammer in Geneva for $17 million |
French editor Bernard Comment looks on during a press conference to present a book of drawings from Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh. JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP.
PARIS (AFP).- It was, on the face of it, one of the biggest art world discoveries in years. Dozens of previously unknown drawings from Vincent Van Gogh's "lost" notebook suddenly surfacing in a cupboard of an old lady's home in southern France. The sketches from the tormented genius' furiously productive time in Arles -- where he cut off his ear after a fight with his friend the painter Paul Gauguin -- seemed to shine a new light on some of his greatest masterpieces. Except at the very moment the highly respected French publishing house Le Seuil was unveiling copies of the 65 sketches to reporters in Paris Tuesday, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam was calling them fakes. That despite the fact that two internationally renowned experts on the Dutch artist had pronounced them to be real. The doyen of the field, 85-year-old British art professor Ronald Pickvance had even called the sketches "the most revolutionary ... More | |
A Christie's official in front of "Untitled XXV" by Willem de Kooning. DON EMMERT / AFP.
NEW YORK (AFP).- Willem de Kooning's "Untitled XXV" was sold late Tuesday at Christie's in New York for $66.3 million, a record for a work by the abstract artist and for post-war contemporary art. The imposing work, which measures 7 by 6.5 feet (2 x 2.2 meters), was painted by the Dutch-American artist in 1977 and is emblematic of the energetic, multicolor brush strokes he used in his work of the mid 1970s. Christie's auction house initially valued "Untitled XXV" at $40 million (37 million euros). When the same painting was auctioned ten years ago it went for $27.1 million, a record at the time. The bid was placed in a phone call, and the buyer's identity was not revealed. New York's fall auction season kicked off this week with an array of masterpieces, drawing bidders from around the world at Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses. Late Monday Edvard Munch's "Girls on the Bridge" sold for $54.5 million, the second-highest auction price paid for a work by the Norwegian painter, Sotheby's said. The 19 ... More | |
The "The Sky Blue Diamond," a fancy, vivid blue diamond ring created by Cartier. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP.
GENEVA (AFP).- A rare blue diamond on Wednesday sold in Geneva for just over $17 million, as Sotheby's eyed total sales in excess of $100 million at the autumn jewel auctions. The 8.01-carat "Sky Blue" diamond in a Cartier setting was snapped up for $17.1 million (15.9 million euros), a hike of 33 percent on the $12.8 million it sold for in 2012, said the auction house's international jewellery division director David Bennett. Rival auction house Christie's opened the season on Tuesday with 167 lots that sold for $97 million, beating its pre-auction estimate of $80 million. The "Sky Blue" sale came amid feverish demand for coloured stones. Sotheby's had valued the ring at $15-25 million, well short of the astonishing $57.54 million Christie's fetched in May for the 14.62-carat "Oppenheimer Blue", which remains the world record. Tobias Kormind, head of 77 Diamonds, Europe's biggest online diamond jewellery retailer, said interest in coloured stones remained strong. ... More |
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| Lindbergh's lost flying hat fails to take flight | | Culture Minister steps in to prevent 18th century painting from export | | Bob Dylan can't make Nobel ceremony: Swedish Academy |
The flying hat of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh is displayed on November 15, 2016 at the Hotel Drouot auction house. Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP.
PARIS (AFP).- The flying hat aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh wore when he became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic failed to take flight Wednesday when it went up for auction in the French capital. The leather and sheepskin cap, which Lindbergh managed to lose while performing loop-the-loops over Paris in May 1927, failed to make the 60,000 to 80,000-euro ($88,000) estimate when it went under the hammer, the Hotel Drouot auction house said. The "Lone Eagle" had lost the same hat a week earlier after he landed the Spirit of St Louis at Bourget airstrip outside the city after completing the record-breaking flight. But a mechanic handed the hat in to the US embassy that evening only for Lindbergh to lose it again seven days later when he was given special permission to perform aerobatic feats over the city in a borrowed French fighter. The next morning a woman found it in her vegetable patch. ... More | |
Hogarth, The Christening (detail).
LONDON.- Culture Minister Matt Hancock has placed a temporary export bar on a satirical painting by William Hogarth to provide an opportunity to keep it in the country. The Christening by William Hogarth is at risk of being exported from the UK unless a buyer can be found to match the asking price of £1,223,100. William Hogarth is considered to be one of the most important figures in eighteenth-century British art and culture. He was known for his satirical artwork, and The Christening was his first painted comical scene. It shows a christening taking place in a wealthy but disorderly home. From the little girl about to knock over the christening bowl, to the dog about to rip apart the hat on the ground, the painting is a satirical scene of contemporary life in the eighteenth century. The painting marks Hogarths beginning as a satirical artist and demonstrates his development into comical artwork. Culture Minister Matt Hancock said: Hogarth is known as one of our greatest ever satirists a ... More | |
This file photo taken on July 29, 1981 shows US singer Bob Dylan performing during a concert in Munich. Frank Leonhardt / DPA / AFP.
STOCKHOLM (AFP).- Music icon Bob Dylan will not attend the Nobel ceremony in December to accept his literature prize because he has "other commitments", the Swedish Academy said on Wednesday. "The Swedish Academy received a personal letter from Bob Dylan yesterday where he explained that he could not make himself available in December...," it said in a statement. "He wishes that he could accept the award personally, but other commitments make it unfortunately impossible. He underlined that he feels incredibly honoured by the Nobel prize," it added. The Swedish Academy said it respected Dylan's decision, but that it was "unusual" for a Nobel laureate not to come to Stockholm to accept the award in person. Nobel laureates are honoured every year on December 10 -- the death anniversary of the prize's founder Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist, inventor and philanthropist. Several other ... More |
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| Iceland breaks taboo with world's largest penis museum | | New work by Bridget Riley unveiled at Gemeentemuseum | | Claudio Rasano wins Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2016 |
The curator, Hjortur Sigurdsson, is pictured on October 27, 2016 at the Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavik. Halldor KOLBEINS / AFP.
REYKJAVIK (AFP).- Size doesn't matter at the Icelandic Phallological Museum, home to the world's largest collection of penises which has an eye-watering array of specimens carefully collected from hundreds of different animals. "I came to see if it was true, that there really was a penis museum in Reykjavik," American tourist Jerry Anderson told AFP, smiling as he stared at the phallus of a sperm whale, the largest specimen in the museum. Preserved in formaldehyde inside a huge plexiglass case at the museum's entrance, it is 1.70 metres tall (5'6 foot) and weighs 75 kilogrammes (165 pounds). Inside the museum's large illuminated rooms, there are penises and penile parts of all shapes and sizes from a huge array of mammals, from whales to bears, seals to cats, and ... More | |
Bridget Riley with Dance © Carolien Sikkenk.
THE HAGUE.- A new permanent work by Bridget Riley was today (16 November 2016) unveiled at the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. Riley has created a window entitled Dance especially for the museums grand first-floor reception area. This maintains a tradition of artists, including Sol LeWitt and Niele Toroni, creating new work specifically for the museum. Director Benno Tempel said: We are enormously proud that Bridget Riley accepted this commission a top international artist whose work is closely related to Mondrians and with such spectacular results! Its a dream come true. Bridget Riley said: I felt honoured to be offered this commission and Im delighted with this particular location. The daylight behind the window lends it an extra dimension, making the result even better than I had hoped. Bridget Riley produced her iconic painting Tremor in 1962 but had not ... More | |
Katlehong Matsenen by Claudio Rasano, 2016. © Claudio Rasano.
LONDON.- Claudio Rasano won the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2016 for his portrait of a Johannesburg schoolboy, the National Portrait Gallery has announced. The prestigious £15,000 award was presented to the Swiss-Italian photographer at an awards ceremony last night (Tuesday, 15 November 2016). The winning portrait, part of Rasanos series Similar Uniforms: We Refuse to Compare, was taken in February 2016, in Johannesburg, South Africa and focuses on issues of preserving individuality in the context of school uniforms. The photograph was shot in daylight, outdoors and in front of a plain white paper background. The sitter for this particular inkjet print is eighteen-year-old Katlehong Matsenen. Rasano explains: Children themselves have been known to rebel against uniforms, especially as they ... More |
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| Chilling letter by Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth to be auctioned in New York | | Premier California Abstract Expressionist art featured in Michaan's Dec. 9 auction | | Warhol's famed "Jackie, 1964" is top lot at Bonhams Post-War and Contemporary Art Sale |
Booth's cryptic letter is filled with tantalizing clues.
NEW YORK, NY.- A chilling letter by John Wilkes Booth penned just months before his assassination of President Lincoln will be auctioned in New York on Tuesday, November 22. Estimated to sell between $50,000-80,000, the letter is a highlight of the Rare Books & Autographs sale at Doyle. In the two-page letter written to the son of a southern Maryland innkeeper, Booth requests information regarding a missing item left with a stagecoach driver that was to be returned later. This stashed item, long considered to be a gun, may reference Booth's treasured derringer with which he may have killed Lincoln. Booth's cryptic letter is filled with tantalizing clues. He states that the item had "saved his life two or three times" and that "it's not worth more than $15, but I'd pay him $20 rather than lose it." The letter closes by instructing the young man to contact Booth at a house in Baltimore, the home of convicted assassination conspirator Samuel Arnold. Th ... More | |
Sam Francis (Californian, 1923-1994), Point Reyes Self Portrait, estimate $150,000-$200,000.
ALAMEDA, CA.- Two particularly desirable original paintings by Sam Francis (Californian, 1923-1994) headline Michaan's next semiannual Fine Art, Furniture, Decorative Arts and Jewelry Auction, slated for Friday, December 9. Francis, who spent his formative years in Berkeley but lived and worked all over the world, is best known for a style that incorporates vivid, corpuscular drips of pigment applied with gestural freedom and large empty-center canvases that reflect the influence of Japanese art. Untitled (SF70-723), estimated at $60,000-$80,000, is a fine example of his signature style. Point Reyes Self Portrait, created in 1990, is an explosion of color in Francis free-gesture style and is estimated at $150,000-$200,000. The consignor acquired the paintings directly from Sam Francis, and both works have been approved for inclusion in the next printing of the artist's catalogue raisonné. ... More | |
Andy Warhol, Jackie, 1964. © 2016 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
NEW YORK, NY.- In a strong sale at Bonhams Post-War and Contemporary auction in New York last night (November 15 at 5pm EST), Andy Warhols haunting portrait of Jackie Kennedy was the top lot, achieving $907,500, following enthusiastic bidding from around the world. Among the other highlights was a special curated section of 11 Op Art works in Bonhams Post-War and Contemporary sale with all lots sold. It demonstrated a renewed interest in the market for works connected to this global movement. All the pieces in the sale were fresh-to-market, with impeccable provenance, many having been gifts from the artist to the owners or bought from the original exhibitions. The top lot for this section was Wojciech Fangors shimmering M35, 1970, which sold for $319,500, more than triple its estimate, setting a new world record for the artist. Other works that achieved excellent results ... More |
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'Quality wins' -- Monet's world auction record is broken in New York
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Ellis King presents the work of Timothy Furey
DUBLIN.- Bite me. There are a number of things in Timothy Fureys show Wrapt in The Wave that remind me of a recently popularized art-label dubbed Zombie Formalism. Firstly, there are of course the inanimate bodies populating the space, but also the large canvases made to fit the gallery walls. This somewhat ironic move, along with the fey Celtic knots, I will argue, constitute a timely reaction to the term Zombie Formalism. As so many historicizing labels - Gothic, Impressionism, Neue Sachlichkeit etc. etc. - this one also did not come from the artists themselves, and was made up to capture and denounce a loosely defined category of practitioners. (As a side note, Furey is not implicated in the ongoing discourse - as of yet.) The term was coined by artist Walter Robinson, and has been further developed by critic Jerry Saltz, along with many others. Its aesthetic ... More
Sotheby's New York announces European Art Sale
NEW YORK, NY.- Sothebys annual autumn sale of European Art will be held in New York on 22 November 2016. The sale offers 70 fresh to the market paintings that exemplify the diversity the category, including paintings by Jean Béraud, Sir Alfred Munnings and William Bourguereau. Many of the works on offer are emerging after decades spent in private collections, including two works that have resurfaced for the first time in over a century by Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Franz von Stuck. The pre-sale exhibition will open in our York Avenue galleries on 19 November, alongside our American Art and Latin American Art sales. The November auction features works commissioned by leading Americans families living both in the United States and abroad. Alfred Stevens Ready for the Fancy Dress Ball (estimate $500/700,000) was ... More
The Center for Maine Contemporary Art announces new Chair, Board of Trustees
ROCKLAND, ME.- The Center for Maine Contemporary Art has announced its new slate of officers and members of the Board of Trustees. Karen S. Brace, of Camden, Maine, and Westwood, Massachusetts, has been appointed the new Chair of CMCAs Board of Trustees, replacing Charlotte Dixon, of Camden, who will remain on the board as First Vice Chair. Other officers are Jack McKenney, Camden, Second Vice Chair; Sandra Ruch, Northport, Secretary; and Martin Lloyd, Camden, Treasurer. In accepting the position of Chair, Karen Brace acknowledged the contribution of outgoing Chair Charlotte Dixon. We are all so grateful for Charlottes leadership and dedication to CMCA, says Brace. As the new Chair of a wonderful Board, I look forward to working together with the Board, Suzette, and the staff during this exciting time of transition and growth. CMCA ... More
Saint Louis Art Museum announces promotion of Philip Hu
ST. LOUIS, MO.- Philip Hu has been promoted to curator of Asian art, the Saint Louis Art Museum announced today. Since joining the Museum in 2006, Hu has curated numerous gallery rotations and several exhibitions, including Conflicts of Interest: Art and War in Modern Japan, which closes January 8. In addition to editing that exhibitions scholarly catalogue, Hu authored Later Chinese Bronzes: The Saint Louis Art Museum and Robert E. Kresko Collections and contributed extensively to Beyond Golden Clouds: Japanese Screens from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Saint Louis Art Museum. In addition, Hu has overseen the growth of the museums Asian art collection through several acquisitions, including the 2010 gift of nearly 1,400 Japanese prints and related works by Charles and Rosalyn Lowenhaupt and the 2014 gift of more than 200 works of Asian ... More
What we know about the disputed Van Gogh 'notebook'
PARIS (AFP).- The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and two renowned experts on the Dutch artist are at loggerheads over whether a "lost" sketchbook from his legendary stay in the French city of Arles is genuine. We examine the key facts behind the controversy: Monaco art dealer Franck Baille said he first heard of the ledger -- which allegedly came from the Cafe de la Gare in Arles where the artist often stayed -- while out hunting in 2008. After being entrusted with it by a member of the family who owned it, he called in the Canadian Van Gogh expert Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov. The ledger had apparently been sitting in a cupboard since 1964 when the mother of the present owner had given it to her for her 20th birthday. She had found it after the Allied bombing of Arles in 1944 when the "Yellow House" where Van Gogh and the painter Paul Gauguin had lived together ... More
Berlin's wild charms make it first choice for Syrian artists
BERLIN (AFP).- From sculptors to actors and filmmakers, Berlin has become a magnet for Syrian artists fleeing their country's brutal violence to a place where they can express themselves without fear. While Beirut and Paris have long been the destinations of choice for Arab artists, the German capital has in recent years earned a reputation as a more adventurous, progressive alternative for exiled creators. As well as offering affordable spaces to live and work, Berlin is "the city of anarchy and rock", says Ziad Adwan, an actor and director who arrived two years ago after spells in jail back home. Once divided by its infamous wall, reunification energised Berlin as young people who grew up yearning to escape the stifling former East Germany met West German peers who had moved to the city for its special status that exempted them from military service. The ... More
New Modern & Contemporary Art Curator at Chrysler Museum
NORFOLK, VA.- Kimberli Gant will become the McKinnon Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Museum Director Erik Neil announced today. Gant currently serves as the Mellon Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Arts of Global Africa at the Newark Museum, in Newark, N.J. She will conclude her fellowship before beginning her new role at the Chrysler in mid-January 2017. With her bold vision, international perspective, scholarship, and verve, Kimberli Gant will be a valuable addition to the Chrysler Museums outstanding curatorial team, Neil said. She brings strong academic credentials and a breadth of professional experience. Among the recent exhibitions Gant has curated or co-curated are Wondrous Worlds: Art & Islam Through Time & Place (The Newark Museum, 2016); A Lifelong Adventure: Brandywine Workshop Prints from ... More
The Ringling appoints new Senior Development Officer
SARASOTA, FLA.- The Ringling announces the appointment of Michelle Moseley as senior development officer, working with the Florida State University Foundation team. In this role, Moseley will work with individual donors who wish to provide major gifts in support of the museum, sponsorships for exhibitions and programming as well as overseeing the Annual Fund. The Ringling is built on a rich legacy and has an extremely exciting future. I am thrilled to be supporting its mission with such a great team of people, said Moseley. Moseley not only brings expertise in major gift fundraising but also a passion and strong knowledge of the arts and museums to The Ringling. She holds a BFA in studio art and a masters degree in education with an emphasis in art from the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO.) In 2007, Moseley received an award from the African American ... More
Springsteen, De Niro to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
WASHINGTON (AFP).- Music legend Bruce Springsteen, basketball star Michael Jordan and actor Robert De Niro are among 21 people who will be honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House said Wednesday. The nation's highest civilian honor is "a tribute to the idea that all of us, no matter where we come from, have the opportunity to change this country for the better," said US President Barack Obama in an announcement. "From scientists, philanthropists and public servants to activists, athletes, and artists, these 21 individuals have helped push America forward, inspiring millions of people around the world along the way," Obama said. The list loaded with entertainers and celebrities also includes comedian and talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, actors Tom Hanks and Robert Redford, stage performer Cicely Tyson and cultural icon Diana Ross, known ... More
Spink to offer the Graham Cooper Collection of King George VI stamps
LONDON.- Spink have been working with a great many fantastic collections, and this December will see one of the finest to be auctioned off. The Graham Cooper Collection of King George VI Stamps will take place on the 14-15th December 2016. The vast collection is the product of many decades of avid acquisition and careful curation. Philately was a long-standing interest of Grahams from a young age, joining Leicester Philatelic Society in 1947, aged 15. He was its longest-standing member and until recently, its only Honorary Member. He joined the King George VI Collectors Society in 1969 and the Royal Philatelic Society in 1976. He became a Fellow in 1984, as well as serving as its Special Representative for the West Indies from 1990-1997. Graham collected King George VI from all areas of the Empire and applied a philatelic knowledge acquired over many ... More
Manchester Museum's latest exhibition explores the consequences of a world without bees
MANCHESTER.- If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. Responding to these unsettling words attributed to Albert Einstein, the latest exhibition at Manchester Museum (part of the University of Manchester) After the Bees, presents a series of artworks exploring a poignant narrative of loss. Artist, photographer and filmmaker Megan Powell creates a unique form of storytelling that speaks of the beauty and appeal of Manchesters beloved emblem, the bee, and the haunting consequences of an imagined world bereft of pollinators. Photographing and filming urban honeybee hives across Manchester, After the Bees draws upon the coupled histories of beekeeping and photography. Through interviews with academics, ecologists and specialists, the artworks delve into and dissect the language of the hive. The exhibition ... More
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Flashback On a day like today, American sculptor Isamu Noguchi was born November 17, 1904. Isamu Noguchi (November 17, 1904 - December 30, 1988) was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces, some of which are still manufactured and sold. In this image: Isamu Noguchi working in stone yard at his Mure, Japan studio, 1975. Photographer unknown.
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