March 26, 2010
Filed under: Art Sales — Alan @ 2:25 am
Christie’s announced that modern masterpieces by Jasper John, Picasso, and Roy Lichtenstein collected by Michael Crichton will be auctioned off following his passing.
Crichton, known best as the author of ‘The Andromeda Stain’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ was an avid art collector purchasing works straight from artists up until he succumbed to cancer back in 2008.
The sale will take place in New York at Christie’s on May 11th and will literally be a collection of Who’s Who from the world of 20th century art. In particular the collection of Jasper John pieces should draw attention given that the collection is one of the most complete on the market and contains pieces from John’s entire career. One of these items is ‘Flag’ which has the Stars and Stripes and has not been publicly seen for almost twenty years.
Other artists that will be up for auction include Jeff Koons, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol. Other highlights include three pieces from Pbalo Picasso and the Lichtenstain paintings ‘Girl in Water’ and ‘Figures in Landscape.’
Deputy Chairman of the American Christie’s, Brett Gorvy, stated that the show will present a unique chance for institutions and collectors to gain access to a private collection that is simply amazing.
Gorvy continues to say that Crichton was an extraordinary collector because he collected artwork that allowed him to see the true depth of the artists.
Over his lifetime, Crichton penned several blockbuster movies and created ER the television drama which was an international hit.
Filed under: Art crime — Alan @ 2:19 am
A Montreal art dealer has found a painting valued at about $100,000 by modern artist Paul Klee that was stolen 21 years ago from a gallery in Manhattan.
The painting titled Portrait in the Garden (‘Bildnis in der Laube’) was painted in 1930 by the Swiss painter Klee and was taken in 1989 from the Marlborough Art Gallery.
Owner of the Montreal gallery Landau Fine Art Inc, Robert Landau, was at the Art Basel show held in December at Miami Beach when a man approached him under the guise of being a Florida art dealer and attempted to sell him the stolen painting.
Landau declined the purchase because he was not sure of its authenticity so he had the man send the painting to Canada with the agreement that if it was authentic Landau would purchase it.
Instead, the art gallery owner looked into the background of the painting and found it was stolen. After his discovery he turned it over to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Special agent in charge of the ICE offices, James T. Hayes, stated that the discovery and subsequent recovery of the artwork sends a message to thieves that there are people in the artwork who check for stolen art.
From the ICS the painting was passed on to the Art Loss Register which is the broker and owner of the insurance company that originally paid the claim at the time the painting was taken. It will go up for auction in New York City at Christie’s.
March 19, 2010
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 6:07 am
Victoria & Albert: Art & Love will undoubtedly change the perspective in which the late Queen and her husband have been viewed.
The exhibition will contain more than 400 paintings, drawings, sculptures and other memorable items collected during the couple’s 20-year marriage.
Over one third of the artworks on display are gifts that were exchanged between them, making the collection a remarkably personal and revealing diorama of their mutual affection and their abiding love of art.
Art & Love represents a range of artists beloved by two different but complementary personalities; the two delighted in presenting one another with specially commissioned paintings or other works by artists the other admired.
The result is a collection that ranges from the sentimental to the classic. A set of jewellery in the shape of orange blossoms, a painting of Victoria as the epitome of an innocent but sensual young woman, and the meticulously detailed realism of “Ramsgate Sands: ‘Life at the Seaside’” by William Powell Frith are just a few of the components in this delightful collage.
Two of Victoria’s favourite artists were Edwin Landseer, whose métier was his paintings of animals, and Franz Xaver Winterhalter, a splendid chronicler of life in the Victorian court. While the royal couple did not have the funds to purchase old masterpieces, they were quick to recognize and encourage artists in their own time and place.
The exhibition will open March 19th in the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. It promises to be a superb and intimate glimpse of the lives of Victoria and Albert, one that has never been seen before.
March 18, 2010
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 4:50 am
One month after the Europalia China art festival closed official figures were released that showed over one million people toured the exhibitions of the festival.
In all, 1,010,567 the visitors were spread out around 48 different exhibitions, out of which 20 were organized along with the aid of the government, and 519 separate events that were spread out across the five European countries of Luxembourg, France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The numbers were released by the Belgian organizer of the festival, Europalia International.
The high attendance is a 60% increase compared to the last Europalia festival held in 2007, which only received 621,991 visitors. The figure is also five times more than the first time the festival was held in 1969 which received a total of 183,800 people.
The report found that 81% of visitors to the Chinese edition were from Belgium, 77% were above the age of 45, and 57% of the attendees were women.
Claire Kirshen, the general commissioner of the art festival, stated that the Chinese cultural authorities were extremely cooperative and even agreed to lend a few pieces of Chinese art out to festival locations outside of China that had not previously left the country.
Krishen also stated that it was hard for the Chinese Ministry for Culture to help organize the project alone, which is why the festival organizers also received a great deal of help on the regional level from locations such as Guangdong, Shanghai, and Beijing.
March 12, 2010
Filed under: Art News — Alan @ 4:29 am
The Chinese Artist, Ai Weiwei, who worked on the collaborative design for the Beijing Olympics Bird’s Nest stadium will soon be working on the design for the Tate Modern Turbine Hall.
Weiwei has large footsteps to fill following in the likes of Rachel Whiteread, Anish Kapoor, and Olafur Eliasson working on a design for what is known as the most popular art attractions in Britain.
Of course, Weiwei has plenty of credits under his own name working alongside architects de Meuron and Herzog on the 2008 Olympic Games stadium, which is one of the most notable of modern designs.
Vicente Todoli, the director of Tate Modern, announced the appointment of Weiwei this week stating that the installations of Weiwei are some of the most engaged art works to be constructed today so the museum is excited to see how he will be able to work with the large public environment of the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall which should be completed in October.
Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing and returned to his home to work after spending time in America during the eighties. Since then he has had a large influence in Chinese contemporary art with works that include a photo-triptych recording of how a ceramic vase from the Han dynasty was dropped onto the floor.
Other works include a Munich wall to commemorate the 2008 Sichuan earthquake composed of children’s backpacks and a ‘colonization’ of the Kassel town made up of 1,0001 citizens of China.
Filed under: Art News — Alan @ 3:13 am
Motorists on A1 at Macmerry in East Lothian will get to watch art in action for the next few weeks. Two huge cranes, supporting the slowly emerging form of a crouching man 25 metres high, are visible from the motorway as drivers pass by.
The construction underway is the work of Had Fab Ltd. of Macmerry Industrial Estate, a company well known for building pylons and transmission towers. The project is quite different from Had Fab’s typical jobs, but they obviously have the necessary equipment and expertise to accomplish it. A project of this size requires a lot of construction workers thus providing many job opportunities in East Lothian and the local area.
Antony Gormley, designer of the famous Angel of the North in Gateshead, designed the new sculpture for Lelystad in the Netherlands. Once it is completed (sometime in May) the entire 60-tonne structure will be disassembled and shipped via flatbed trucks to its permanent home in Lelystad, where it will be reassembled to stand looking out to sea.
Managing director of Had Fab, Simon Harrison, says he has been working with Gormley for the past five years to put the project together. The finished sculpture will be (aptly) named ‘Exposure’, and Mr. Harrison says it has been getting a lot of attention from the public.
It has also tested the skill and ingenuity of the crew at Had Fab, but they are achieving what many thought was impossible. Harrison said that Gormley is eager to work with them again, but he hopes the next colossal artwork will be designed for a spot in the U.K.
March 4, 2010
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 6:04 am
A new exhibition about an ancient kingdom found in the current state of Nigeria during the 12th century shows why current sculptures of the past that have been recently found have changed the way the West looks at African arts.
In the past, African art was often thought to be primitive, but with the discovery of copper, bronze, and terracotta figures that show the Ife society was actually quite beautiful although albeit painful and savage.
The exhibit which is located at the British Museum is titled “Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures from West Africa.”
In a review of the exhibit Jonathan Jones wrote that the faces seem to coolly glaze right through you and will disturb those who have believed that European art is unique. Jones added that the sculptors of Ife are able to accurately portray the human face as well as any Greek artist and are as equally matched in balance, harmony, and proportion as any Greek piece.
The stunning pieces discovered from Ife were in fact so stunning when they first discovered that many people believed that the paintings were not actually from Africa.
In fact, originally Leo Frobenius, a German archaeologist, thought that the works were traces of the widely mythical lost city of Atlantis.
The works will be on display at the museum from March 4th to June 6th and are mostly from Africa and will hopefully help educate those who hold preconceptions about African art see the culture in a new point of view.
Filed under: Art crime — Alan @ 5:56 am
A new documentary that explores the controversy surrounding who gets control of the $25b modern art collection that was owned by the deceased Albert C Barnes serves as an excellent reminder of just how hard to chase the dream of creating a legacy can be for the extremely wealthy.
The documentary, titled Art of the Steal, focuses on how Barnes wished to leave his collection behind to an institution that would permanently house his European paintings, but over time due to the disagreements that have arisen over how his collection should be placed his vision has become quite blurred.
Now as a result Barnes’ plans to preserve his paintings so that his estate will live on has turned into a new arrangement that will leave the paintings in a public facility located in Philadelphia, which is highly ironic given that it is directly next door to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which Barnes openly hated.
The manipulation and borderline illegal interpretations of wills are common among Americans who are rich and even though the rich may be able to draw up strict instructions that leave them satisfied that their wills will be carried out correctly, often this does not happen. Instead, power struggles in the legal system afterwards often lead to the exact opposite happening.
In fact, the problem has become so large that the patriarchs of richest families have even taken steps to leave behind 6% of their fortunes to estate lawyers to guarantee that their wishes will be followed after they pass; the film shows the struggles of Barnes to have his wishes fulfilled.
