Art News
Pre-Raphaelite collection saved for public display
Hammersmith & Fulham was considering selling the works
Burne-Jones’s Cupid Delivering Psyche, 1867
LONDON. A collection of 53 pictures by Burne-Jones and his contemporaries is to go on show at Fulham Palace, ending speculation that it might be sold. The works were bequeathed by amateur artist Cecil French to London’s Fulham council (now Hammersmith & Fulham) in 1953. Since 1983 several paintings have been on display at Leighton House in Kensington, with the majority kept in store.
The Fulham collection comprises late 19th-
and early 20th-century British works, including paintings by
Burne-Jones, Watts, Waterhouse, Leighton, Moore and
Alma-Tadema, as well as many watercolours and drawings.
Further bequests by Cecil French were given to other
institutions, including the Watts Gallery in Surrey, which
deaccessioned two of his pictures on 5 June. Moore’s Jasmine
and Burne-Jones’s Triumph of Love were sold at Christie’s,
London, for £2.8m, twice the upper estimate. The proceeds
will be used to help restore the Watts Gallery building.
Hammersmith & Fulham mayor Minnie Scott Russell told The
Art Newspaper at the end of May (just before stepping
down as mayor) that the future of the Cecil French bequest
was under consideration. She said that many residents would
like to see the works sold, to raise money for other
projects, such as contemporary public art and bursaries for
young artists. A sale might have brought in millions of
pounds, with Waterhouse’s Mariana in the South and Burne-Jones’s
Cupid Delivering Psyche being particularly important.
However, on 17 June Hammersmith & Fulham Council announced
that the Cecil French bequest would go on permanent display
at Fulham Palace, the former Bishop of London’s summer
residence, which is now leased to the council and open to
visitors. The council is currently applying to the Heritage
Lottery Fund for a grant to restore Fulham Palace and its
grounds.
Last month a council spokesperson denied that there had been
any consideration of selling off the bequest: “It was always
our intention to return the collection to the borough.” A
temporary one-week display of the Cecil French pictures was
held at Fulham Palace from 28 May to 1 June (the first time
that the bequest has been seen in its entirety), and they
will now return to public view later this year.
Michelangelo's famous statue of David could collapse because of its exposure to mass tourism, Italian experts say.
They say the massive statue of the naked boy-warrior is in danger because of its size, shape and the weakness of the marble from which it was carved.
But they warn that the greatest risk comes from the footfall of many visitors who troop past it each day at Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia.
The experts want to protect the statue by insulating it from the vibrations.
This would cost about 1m euros (£785,000). Otherwise David could topple over, engineers from the University of Perugia say.
Iconic status
The warning follows a detailed study of the statue which showed that the cracks filled during major restoration works four years ago - on the occasion of its 500th anniversary - have already reopened.
That restoration was itself controversial because it involved using distilled water to clean the statue - which critics argued could damage it.
Michelangelo's David has had iconic status almost since its completion at the height of the Renaissance.
At the time it was seen as a powerful symbol of Florence's republican political ideals: David being the youthful warrior who felled the mighty Goliath in the Biblical Old Testament story.
Since then it has enjoyed mixed fortunes: attacked by crowds when it was first displayed, then hacked by a deranged painter in 1991.
The statue has also acquired kitsch status - its copies adorn everything from casinos in Las Vegas to tacky Mediterranean beach bars.
BBC NEWS
ART OF DEATH
COPENHAGEN. Gene Hathorn, a convict on death row in Texas, has agreed to give his body to the Danish-based artist Marco Evaristti, should his final appeal against execution fail. Evaristti plans to turn Hathorn’s body into a work of art. “My aim is to first deep freeze Gene’s body and then make fish food out of it. Visitors to my exhibition will be able to feed goldfish with it,” Evaristti told The Art Newspaper.
Hathorn, 47, has been on death row since 1985,
after being found guilty for the murder of his father, step-mother
and step-brother. At an earlier trial Hathorn’s friend, James Lee
Beathard, was also convicted for the murders after Hathorn testified
against him.
Hathorn later recanted his testimony but Beathard, who protested his
innocence to the end, was executed by lethal injection in 1999
because of a Texas law which prevents the presentation of new
evidence after 30 days have passed from the original trial.
In the last year Evaristti has visited Hathorn several times at his
prison in Livingston, Texas. “I wanted to raise awareness of the
fact that there are people killed legally in our Western
civilisation,” said the artist. “A lawyer put me in contact with
Hathorn and after a few meetings I suggested that I use his body and
he [said he] wished that I would.” He does not think that his plan
is cynical or unethical. “The real problem is legally killing
people,” he said.
Evaristti says that US lawyers doubt whether Hathorn’s testament,
which makes the artist the heir to his body, is valid. “But we are
confident [that we can] solve this issue before Hathorn is
executed,” Evaristti said. Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the
Texas Department for Criminal Justice (TDCJ), told The Art
Newspaper that a death row prisoner “can select a person to
handle the disposition of their remains”. She added that the TDCJ
had no interest in who that person may be.
Evaristti is helping to finance Hathorn’s appeal by selling drawings
made by the convict in prison. “I don’t think his appeal will work,
so if he is executed, we will ship the body to Germany, deep freeze
it there and turn it into fish food,” Evaristti told The Art
Newspaper.
He said he was already in contact with a company that would be
willing to assist him, but declined to identify it. The proposed
exhibition will consist of a huge aquarium filled with hundreds of
goldfish. Visitors would be able to feed the fish using food made
from Hathorn’s body. A venue for the exhibition has yet to be
decided.
The exhibition is part of Evaristti’s wider project against capital
punishment. In August he presented a clothing collection called “The
Last Fashion” to coincide with the Copenhagen International Fashion
Fair. Fifteen models wore dresses designed by Evaristti. He says
they are for death-row prisoners to wear on their execution day.
They will be offered as mail-order items to prisoners on death row
in the United States.
“The fashion show will be forgotten in a short time. People went
there, looked at it and were amused. But I want [there to be] a
lasting impact and therefore I’m using Hathorn’s body,” Evaristti
said. He has also designed an execution bed to be shown at the Art
Copenhagen art fair this month (19-21 September).
Evaristti came to international attention in 2000 when he placed
goldfish in electric blenders filled with water. Visitors to the
exhibition at Denmark’s Trapholt Art Museum could choose to press a
button, turn on the blenders and kill the fish. In January 2007 he
held a dinner party where the main course consisted of meatballs
partly made with fat removed by liposuction from his own body. In
June last year he was arrested while trying to paint the peak of
Mont Blanc red as a protest against “environmental degradation”.
In April we reported plans by German artist Gregor Schneider to show
a person dying as part of an exhibition. “My aim is to show the
beauty of death,” Schneider told us. He said he would like to stage
the exhibition at the Haus Lange Museum in Krefeld, Germany. The
museum declined to comment.
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MoMA buys Chinese contemporary art Twenty-eight photographs have been purchased from collector Larry Warsh The Museum of Modern Art in New York has acquired 28 photographs by 11 contemporary Chinese artists, including Ai Weiwei, Rong Rong, Huang Yan and Sheng Qi. The works were purchased from New York collector and former publisher of Museums magazine Larry Warsh, who bought most of the pieces directly from the artists’ studios. Valued at over $400,000 by Mr Warsh,
the collection was reportedly acquired by MoMA at a 30%
to 40% discount. The museum’s chief curator of
photography, Peter Galassi, declined to discuss the
acquisition. |
Rockwell's 'Runaway' honored by State Police
after 50 years
By Ryan Kost
FRAMINGHAM -- It's hard to say exactly what it is about Norman Rockwell's illustration "Runaway" that makes a wayward young boy and a Massachusetts state trooper seem so epic. On one stool, the officer leans over in his crisp blue uniform, glancing at the boy, whose shoes are untied, a hobo's bag on the floor at his feet.
The enduring image, which first appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post exactly 50 years ago on Saturday, has come to symbolize the mission of public safety officials.
"If there's one picture, one snapshot that tells the story of the State Police, it's this one right here," said Colonel Mark Delaney, superintendent of the State Police.
In recognition, officials held a ceremony at the department's headquarters today for the people who posed for the illustration. They were lauded with citations from the governor and the Legislature, a plaque, and hats.
Ed Locke was an 8-year-old living in Stockbridge in 1958 when he posed for Rockwell. He was embarrassed at first, he said, because his friends teased him about appearing on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. As he matured, Locke grew to appreciate Rockwell's work.
"I think that it represents a pretty simple time," said the 58-year-old Locke.
His partner in the picture, retired Staff Sergeant Richard Clemens, who is 79, took another perspective.
"Rockwell could depict things in the world around us," Clemens said, "not as they really were, but as we'd like to be."
Exquisite 19th Century Porcelain from Europe's Most Renowned Factories on View at Metropolitan Museum
- Exhibition dates: September 16, 2008 – April 19, 2009
- Exhibition location: Wrightsman Exhibition Gallery
- Press preview: Monday, September 15, 10:00 a.m. – noon
The porcelain factories of Berlin, Sèvres, and Vienna achieved a remarkable level of artistic and technical skill in the first half of the 19th century, and the quality of painted decoration practiced at these three factories at this time has never been surpassed. Approximately 75 extraordinary examples from these three European porcelain manufactories will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning September 16, 2008, in the exhibition Royal Porcelain from the Twinight Collection, 1800-1850. The exhibition will illustrate the exchange of ideas and styles among the factories that resulted in some of the most splendid porcelain ever produced.
The exhibition is made possible by Richard Baron Cohen.
Royal Porcelain from the Twinight Collection, 1800-1850 will be arranged in four sections: Recollections of Antiquity, The Natural World, View Painting, and Recording History. Recollections of Antiquity will examine the fascination with the ancient world that extended not only to its images but also to its materials and methods of manufacture. On view will be vases and pieces of tableware embellished with popular forms of decoration in antiquity, including cameos and micromosaics. The Natural World will feature the realistic botanical representations on porcelain that were inspired by a new interest in naturalism in the early 19th century. Individual flowers or floral clusters became the subject of "portraits" that were intended to be scientifically exact. Examples in the exhibition will include plates and cups depicting water lilies, lotus flowers, and roses. Also on view in this section will be exotic and local birds painted with a decorative effect on porcelain, including a Viennese birdcage cup and two plates from the superb Service des oiseaux d'Amérique du Sud by Madame Knip, a specialist in the field of ornithology who was employed at Sèvres to create the service. View Painting will highlight works such as vases and tea and coffee services that had specific cities and panoramic landscapes as decoration. Popular since the late 18th century and an important source of income for porcelain manufactories, many of the pieces decorated in this manner were used by Prussian kings as gifts. The final section, Recording History, will include early 19th-century porcelain that portrayed important contemporary events. Often based on drawings, these works recorded notable historical occasions and contemporary interiors, and frequently served as personal gifts. An outstanding example in this category is a goblet and saucer with a depiction of Captain Cook's ships amongst the icebergs of the Atlantic.
Royal Porcelain from the Twinight Collection, 1800-1850 is organized at the Metropolitan Museum by Jeffrey Munger, Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue that will be available in the Metropolitan Museum's book shops.
Related Programs
A variety of education programs will be presented in conjunction
with the exhibition, including a lecture on September 19, "Royal
Porcelain from the Twinight Collection, 1800–1850 — Inspired,
Imitated, Stolen: Interactivities of Form and Decoration on Early
19th-Century Sèvres, Berlin and Vienna Porcelain" by Samuel Wittwer,
curator of the ceramic collections and the KPM-archives, Prussian
Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg.
The exhibition and its related programs will be listed on the Museum's website at www.metmuseum.org.
Prior to its showing at the Metropolitan, the exhibition was on display at the Schloss Charlottenberg in Berlin, the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna, and the Musée National de Céramique in Sèvres, France.
The Art of Jewellery
Surreal Worlds
BERLIN - A collection of more than 250 surrealist and pre-surrealist artworks that ranges from Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel to Francisco de Goya is on display in Berlin.
Titled "Surreal Worlds," the collection of paintings, sculptures and sketches has been installed in the Stuelerbau — a building in Berlin's western Charlottenburg district that previously housed the capital's Egyptian Museum.
The building has been given a $15.6 million overhaul.
The so-called Scharf-Gersternberg collection has its roots in the estate of Otto Gersternberg, who bought a wide range of artwork in the early 1900s. It was expanded by his late grandsons, Dieter and Walter Scharf.
The collection, which opened July 10, is on a 10-year loan to Berlin's state museums.
Among the collection's treasures are etchings from late in Goya's career and works by Max Klinger, Max Ernst, Odilon Redon, Paul Klee, Jean Dubuffet and printmaker Piranesi. A film program includes work by Bunuel and others.
Berlin museums director Peter-Klaus Schuster described the collection as an ideal complement to the Berggruen museum across the road, whose collection centers on work by Pablo Picasso.
Russian Art at Sotheby’s
Imperial
Order of St.Andrew- 8 new records established
- 15 lots sold for over $1 million
- 8 works sold for over £1 million
- Average sold lot value in the Russian Art Evening Sale was over $1 million
- 17% of the buyers in the Evening Sale were new to Sotheby’s
- The highest price of the week (and highest price for a Russian Work of Art this week) was for an Important Diamond-Set Badge of The Order of St. Andrew, which sold for £2.7 million - more than four times its pre-sale high estimate of £600,000 - setting a new record for any Order at auction
- Natalia Goncharova’s Nature Morte aux Fruits realised £2.28 million, representing the highest price paid for a painting during Russian Week
- The year-to-date global total for sales of Russian Art represents an increase of 32% on the first 6 months of last year
- Works by Aivazovsky, Korovin and Serebriakova also out-performed the market
LONDON. The “laughing man” that sold for £2.6m ($5.1m) in a Gloucestershire auction last October is indeed a Rembrandt, but not a self-portrait. Originally estimated at £3,000, it could now be worth up to £20m.
It was a UK collector, not a dealer,
who placed the winning bid. The guffawing figure may
look like the youthful, boisterous Rembrandt, and it
has just been confirmed to have been painted
by him. However, Rembrandt Research Project director
Professor Ernst van der Wetering believes it should not
be regarded as a “self-portrait”, but as a “laughing
trony”, a Dutch term for “face”. Rembrandt was not
attempting to produce a portrait of himself, but rather
to depict the act of laughter. Professor van der
Wetering has therefore christened the painting Rembrandt
Laughing.
Last month it went on display at the Rembrandthuis in
Amsterdam, fully authenticated as by the artist, and
dating from around 1628. The Rembrandthuis revealed
that the owner of the picture is a private British
collector, not (as has been speculated) a dealer. It was
he who took the considerable risk of paying £2.6m for a
painting described by auctioneers Moore Allen & Innocent
as by a “follower” of Rembrandt.
It had apparently been owned by an English family for
many years. Inevitably, at some point the painting will
come onto the market again, and no doubt the trade will
then be tempted to sell it as a Rembrandt
“self-portrait”, to give it that extra cachet. Rembrandt
would but smile if he knew how we agonise over titles.
It was a UK collector, not a dealer,
who placed the winning bid. The guffawing figure may
look like the youthful, boisterous Rembrandt, and it
has just been confirmed to have been painted
by him. However, Rembrandt Research Project director
Professor Ernst van der Wetering believes it should not
be regarded as a “self-portrait”, but as a “laughing
trony”, a Dutch term for “face”. Rembrandt was not
attempting to produce a portrait of himself, but rather
to depict the act of laughter. Professor van der
Wetering has therefore christened the painting Rembrandt
Laughing.
Last month it went on display at the Rembrandthuis in
Amsterdam, fully authenticated as by the artist, and
dating from around 1628. The Rembrandthuis revealed
that the owner of the picture is a private British
collector, not (as has been speculated) a dealer. It was
he who took the considerable risk of paying £2.6m for a
painting described by auctioneers Moore Allen & Innocent
as by a “follower” of Rembrandt.
It had apparently been owned by an English family for
many years. Inevitably, at some point the painting will
come onto the market again, and no doubt the trade will
then be tempted to sell it as a Rembrandt
“self-portrait”, to give it that extra cachet. Rembrandt
would but smile if he knew how we agonise over titles.
Kremlin Buys Russian Art Collection
Art Newspaper can reveal that a private foundation with close ties to the Kremlin has purchased the Nikita and Nina Lobanov-Rostovsky Collecton of Russian theatre art.
The St Petersburg-based International
Konstantinovsky Charitable Fund purchased the collection
of 810 watercolors, drawings, and gouaches from the
Panama-based Europactole Properties Inc. for “under $20
million,’’ said Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky. The deal was
signed in February, but officials asked that the deal be
kept secret until the end of June.
The Russian economy has grown every year since 1999, and
Kremlin coffers have overflowed with revenue in large
part generated by the export of natural resources such
as oil, natural gas, and metals.
“Over the years we have had offers to buy the
collection, but it has been our objective to have it
kept as a whole by one institution, preferably in
Russia,” said Lobanov-Rostovsky. “We are very happy it’s
gone to Russia.’’
The works of art will probably be put on permanent
display in the Konstantin Palace outside of St
Petersburg. The palace is the official residence of the
Russian President. It was restored in 2001-03 by decree
of President Vladimir Putin at the cost of $200m. Money
for that project went through the Konstantinovsky
Charitable Fund.
In May, the Konstantin Palace unveiled the Russian art
collection once owned by Mstislav Rostropovich, and
which was purchased at Sotheby’s in September by Russian
billionaire, Alisher Usmanov, for about £40m. Usmanov
decided to put it on permanent display in the Konstantin
Palace, and many experts speculate this was part of his
effort to curry favor with the Kremlin.
The works from the Lobanov-Rostovsky collection are
currently in storage in Europe.
Marina Suslina, deputy director of the Konstantinovsky
Charitable Fund, declined to comment on the sale.
The top works in the collection include Bakst’s costume
designs for "Cleopatre" and "Bayadere with Peacock";
Goncharava's designs for "Liturgie", Larinov's sets and
costume designs for "Chout" and Alexandra Exter's
designs for "Aelita".
“The Lobanov-Rostovsky Collecton is a unique example of
how Russia, a ‘backward’ country on Europe’s periphery,
caught up to and surpassed the culture of the West,
going further than cubism and futurism, and striving
toward even more radical artistic directions, such as
constructivism,’’ said John Bowlt, a specialist in the
history of Russian art at the University of California
in Los Angeles.
In February the Lobanov- Rostovskys donated two
20th-century works of art to the Pushkin Museum of Fine
Arts in Moscow. The works, which were valued at
e255,000, were Poet's Melancholy, 1916, an oil painting
by the Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico, and Black
Zigzag, 1924, an aquarelle on paper by Dutch abstract
painter Theo van Doesburg.
The Lobanov-Rostovsky family, which is descended from
Rurik, a 9th- century Viking who ruled Russia, fled
Russia after the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917. Prince
Nikita was born in 1935 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
In January 1954, on arriving to London from Bulgaria, he
visited an exhibition commemorating Diaghilev and his
Ballets Russes through costume and stage design.
“Out of the 42 painters who collaborated with Diaghilev,
22 came from the Russian empire,’’ said
Lobanov-Rostovsky. “I was so overwhelmed by the dynamism
and bright contrasting colours of the Russian designers
that then and there, a penniless refugee from the
socialist undemocratic republic of Bulgaria, I decided
one day to have such a collection.’’
Nikita purchased his first work of Russian theater art
in 1959.
Nikita was a career geologist, and is a fellow in
perpetuity at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York. Nina is a writer and lecturer on Russian
decorative arts and Russian stage design, and consults
for Christie's International and Sotheby's.
Winehouse performs for Abramovich
Amy Winehouse performed at the Rock in
Rio Lisboa festival in May
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The singer flew out to play at the launch of The Garage gallery, which has been set up by Ms Zhukova.
Mr Abramovich and the former model went on stage to thank the star for her set, for which she was paid a reported £1m.
Christie’s
Christie’s is the world's leading art business with global auction sales in 2007 that totaled £3.1 billion/$6.3 billion.
Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's conducted the greatest auctions of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and today remains a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful.
Christie’s offers over 600 sales annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $80 million. Christie’s has 85 offices in 43 countries and 14 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Dubai and Hong Kong.
Most recently, Christie’s has led the market with expanded initiatives in emerging and new markets such as Russia, China,
Tutankhamun Exhibition
Read about the new King Tut experience at the O2 Bubble, London.
Government offers incentives in bid to revive market
PARIS. France’s culture minister Christine Albanel announced proposals to shake up the French art market last month, at a time when the country has... >>
Roman Abramovich brings home the $86.3m Bacon and the $33.6m Freud
The Art Newspaper can reveal that the London-based Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is the mystery buyer of Francis Bacon’s Triptych, 1976, which sold at Sotheby’s New York this... >>
Queen Mother's Collection
Read about the collection on show in Norwich.
Indian gallery chooses Berlin for first outlet in Europe
MUMBAI. BodhiBerlin, the German city’s first major gallery dedicated to contemporary Indian art, is due to open on 3 May. The gallery is near the... >>
Can you trade your way through a recession?
LONDON. As confidence in the art market begins to wane amid growing fears of an economic downturn, two new companies have launched to buy art as an... >>
London dealer forced to return Souzas
LONDON. Aziz Kurtha, an Indian lawyer and art dealer based in London and Dubai, has regained ownership of two works by the late Indian artist Francis... >>
Time-based art needs plenty of tender, loving care
Time waits for no one, which collectors of time-based media art can ill afford to forget. In the words of the US artist Bill Viola, “in the flick of... >>
New display for self-portrait collection started by Medici
FLORENCE. The Uffizi is developing plans for a redisplay of its unparalleled holdings of self-portraits which is by far the greatest such collection... >>
Bank of America sends its art on tour
NEW YORK. The Bank of America, the second largest bank in the US, has announced plans to lend pre-packaged exhibitions to US museums free of charge.... >>
Copyright, conflicts of interest, and how to deal with Uncle Sam
Over 200 museum employees, lawyers and interested parties convened in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the 36th annual conference on Legal Issues in Museum..
German gallery tries to block sale of works by Joseph Beuys
NEW YORK. Negotiations between the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum in Krefeld, Germany, and art collector Helga Lauffs continue as the museum tries to stop... >>
An art exhibit minus the art evokes Holocaust loss...Macro World Investor Sat May 31 2008 11:41:00 GMT+0300
JERUSALEM-An art gallery at Hebrew University is mounting an unusual art exhibit, without original art. 'Auktion 392-Reclaiming the Galerie Stern, Dsseldorf,' features reproductions of the paintings that Germany's Nazi government forced art dealer Max
Women artists on the back burner at global auctions...
Economictimes Sat May 31 2008 10:23:00 GMT+0300
Indian art may have gone global but inisde international auction houses there seems to be a gender gap when it comes to putting up lots under the hammer. In the genesis of Indian modernism women artists are on the back burner. A quick look at