The painting "The Alchemist" by Dutch baroque painter Johan Moreelse is on display at the exhibition "Art and Alchemy - The Mystery of Transformation" at the Museum Kunstpalast in Duesseldorf, western Germany, on April 2, 2014. From April 5 to August 10, 2014, the museum presents "an exhibition spanning all epochs and genres, introducing the link between art and alchemy in past and present times". AFP PHOTO / DPA / MARTIN GERTEN.
DUSSELDORF.- For the first time in Germany, an exhibition spanning all epochs and genres will be introducing the exciting link between art and alchemy in past and present times. 250 works from antiquity to the present, encompassing Baroque art, Surrealism, through to contemporary art from collections and museums in the USA, Great Britain, France, Mexico and Israel reveal the fascination which alchemy exerted for many visual artists. Artists featured in the exhibition, such as Joseph Beuys, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Max Ernst, Hendrick Goltzius, Rebecca Horn, Anish Kapoor, Yves Klein, Sigmar Polke, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens and David Teniers the Younger invite visitors to explore the mystery of transformation. Alchemy was invariably practised in secret, but was by no means a rare occurrence until well into the 18th century: Eminent personalities, including Paracelsus, Isaac Newton and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, were alchemists, too. It was not until the Age of t ... More
NEW YORK(AFP).- A Las Vegas billionaire is suing a respected Swiss curator accused of standing behind the authenticity of a painting purportedly by American artist Mark Rothko which turned out to be fake. Several people are accused over the "Untitled (Orange, Red and Blue)" that Frank Fertitta III paid $7.2 million for in 2008 from the Knoedler gallery in New York. The gallery has since closed after it was found to be selling dozens of forgeries of several painters. Swiss Oliver Wick, a Rothko expert and specialist in American paintings, was paid $300,000 by the gallery for the sale, according to court documents which allege that Wick "was aware of substantial evidence that the painting was a forgery." "Wick conducted no independent research into the authenticity of this fake Rothko," the documents charge. Prior to the sale, Wick had written to an intermediary in the transaction stating: "I confirm that this work has been submitted to the team, all is perfectly fine, otherwise I would not ... More
On the market for the first time in its history, the painting has always remained in the collection of Alexandre’s Heirs. Estimate: €5-8 million ($6.9 – 11 million). Photo: Sotheby's.
PARIS.-Sotheby’s will offer Amedeo Modigliani’s masterful Portrait of Paul Alexandre for sale in Paris on 4 June 2014. This famous painting (estimate €5-8m / $6.9-11m) dates from 1911/12 and portrays Modigliani’s first and major patron during the seven years after his arrival in France in 1907. It has never previously appeared on the market, having remained until today in the ownership of Paul Alexandre’s descendants. Although the portrait is acknowledged in works of reference it has been seen in public only rarely, during prestigious exhibitions. Paul Alexandre, a doctor by profession, was above all a great connoisseur whose love of art dated from his youth. He was the young Modigliani’s patron, and virtually his only buyer until 1914. Paul Alexandre first met Amedeo Modigliani at the Maison du Delta, a mythical venue ... More
A visitor to the newly-opened Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai looking at an ancient scroll. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS.
SHANGHAI(AFP).- With two museums already in his empire, tycoon Liu Yiqian is a would-be Chinese Getty or Guggenheim, but a row over the authenticity of a scroll that cost him millions of dollars threatens his artistic legacy. The work, with nine Chinese characters in black ink reading "Su Shi respectfully bids farewell to Gong Fu, Gentleman Court Consultant", is the star exhibit at Liu's newly-opened Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai. The calligraphy is a mere 28 centimetres long by 10 centimetres wide (11 by 4 inches), but Liu paid $8.2 million to secure it at a Sotheby's auction in New York in September. A taxi driver turned financier who is now one of the country's wealthiest people, he is among the new Chinese super-rich scouring the globe for artwork, snapping up objects and driving up prices, some even building their own museums to house their collections. "Like the ... More
George Braque (1882-1963), Le Modèle, 1939. Estimate: $8-10 million. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2014.
NEW YORK, NY.-Christie’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, Including Property from the Estate of Edgar M. Bronfman, on May 6 in New York will feature an exceptional selection of 54 works of every media by the most revered artists of the Twentieth Century. The best Impressionist works by Monet and Renoir to come to market in many years from the Estate of Huguette Clark are coupled with equally distinguished examples by Degas from the Estate of Edgar Bronfman. Important Modern works by Picasso, Kandinsky, Braque and Dalí from the collection of Viktor and Marianne Langen pair with an orientalist van Dongen and an arcadian Picasso also from the Bronfman estate. The evening sale is expected to achieve in excess of $245 million. Brooke Lampley, Head of Impressionist & Modern Art, comments: “Christie’s is excited to offer our strongest May evening sale of Impressionist & Modern Art since the record breaking ... More
Joel ben Simeon (active in Italy and Germany, 1400s), Arcade Supported by Animals, from a Haggadah. Tempera, ink, and gold leaf on parchment. Italian. Written and painted about 1454. Courtesy of The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary (L.2014.20a)
NEW YORK, NY.- In time for the observance of Passover this year, two medieval Hebrew manuscripts are on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. One manuscript, on loan from the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), New York, for two years, is a newly conserved Haggadah by Joel ben Simeon, one of the best-known illuminators of medieval Hebrew manuscripts. Its presentation at the Museum marks the first time it is being displayed publicly in more than a decade. The other, a richly ornamented 15th-century Hebrew Bible, is on loan from the Hispanic Society of America through May 1. A Haggadah is the book used at the Passover seder, the ritual meal that commemorates the exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt. Although the essential components of the text were established in the second century, ... More
Margaret Spellings (R), president of the George W. Bush Presidential Center speaks alongside Amy Polley, library and museum curator. Stewart F. House/Getty Images/AFP.
WASHINGTON(AFP).- Former US president George W. Bush is hoping world leaders will warm to the portraits he's painted of them, which go on exhibition in Texas this weekend. The two dozen canvases are a key part of "The Art of Leadership: A President's Personal Diplomacy," which explores the relationships Bush forged with world leaders during his presidency. "I think their reaction is going to be, 'Whoa, George Bush is a painter'," quipped Bush in an interview with his journalist daughter Jenna Bush Hager to air on NBC television's "Today" program Friday. He added: "I hope they take it in the spirit in which these were painted, and that was a spirit of friendship, and that I admired them as leaders and was willing to give it a shot in terms of getting people to see how I felt about them." None of the portraits have been seen publicly before -- or, for that matter, by the yet-to-be-identified subjects ... More
TORONTO.- This spring, the Art Gallery of Ontario brings two giants of 20th-century British art together in a major exhibition of sculpture and paintings. Organized by the AGO in conjunction with the U.K.’s historic Ashmolean Museum, Francis Bacon and Henry Moore will feature over 60 works by the two highly influential artists as well as a number of photographs and archival materials dating from the Second World War. The exhibition runs from April 5 to July 20, 2014. Although they were neither friends nor collaborators, painter Francis Bacon (1909-1992) and sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986) were contemporaries who shared an obsession with expressing themes of suffering, struggle and survival in relation to the human body. Both artists survived the Second World War and were subsequently haunted by the conflict, which they represented through manifestations of the body in various ... More
In Presidents and Convicts, Pierce employed simple and direct images and forceful colors to depict an unusual composition of seemingly disparate images.
NEW YORK, NY.- A painted wood relief by American folk artist Elijah Pierce (1892-1984) achieved a record $87,500 at Doyle New York’s April 2 auction of American Paintings, Furniture and Decorative Arts. Titled Presidents and Convicts and executed in 1941, the work sold to a British buyer for $87,500, setting a new world auction record for the artist. In Presidents and Convicts, Pierce employed simple and direct images and forceful colors to depict an unusual composition of seemingly disparate images -- road gangs of convicts, formal busts of Presidents Lincoln and Washington, and Uncle Sam shaking hands with a young African-American soldier beneath an American flag. The youngest son of a former Mississippi slave, Elijah Pierce began carving as a young boy, initially carving small farm animals from wood. He used to give away his carvings to his fellow students at school, thereby beginning ... More
John Martin, The Bard, ca. 1817, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.
NEW HAVEN, CONN.-The Yale Center for British Art presents its eighth annual exhibition curated by Yale undergraduates in the Center’s Student Guide Program. Art in Focus: Wales features works from the Center’s collection that depict the Welsh landscape and explore its significance to the history of landscape in British art. Students selected from oil paintings, finished watercolors, plein-air sketches, prints, and drawings by a range of artists, including Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, Thomas Rowlandson, James Ward, J. M. W. Turner, David Cox, Thomas Girtin, John Martin, John Linnell, William Blake, and Samuel Palmer. Also on display are published guidebooks and travel diaries. The exhibition complements the Center’s exhibition on Richard Wilson. The aesthetic “discovery” of Welsh landscape began in 1737, when Thomas Herring, Bishop of Bangor, made what has been called the first literary tour of Snowdonia, in North Wal ... More
Valued at £25,000-35,000, the work is an oil on canvas depicting the longest ever wooden clipper in the trade. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- The Spindrift was designed and built by the Glaswegian Charles Connell in 1867 and wrecked off the Kent coast just two years later while carrying a priceless cargo to Shangai A stunning painting by Montague Dawson (British, 1890-1973) titled “The glittering Spindrift running before the wind” is to be sold at Bonhams’ Marine Sale in London on April 15. Valued at £25,000-35,000, the work is an oil on canvas depicting the longest ever wooden clipper in the trade. Spindrift was designed and built by the Glaswegian Charles Connell for James Findlay of Greenock. Launched on 18th July 1867 she was undoubtedly her builder’s finest tea clipper and, thanks to her very large sail plan, also one of the fastest ships of the time. The ship cleared London for her maiden voyage on 13th September 1867 under Captain Middleton and sailed to China, where ... More
Maqbol Fida Husain - Walk on Earth
LONDON.- Two horse paintings by celebrated Indian artist, Maqbol Fida Husain are among the front runners at Bonhams Modern and Contemporary South Asian sale which will take place on 8th April in London’s New Bond Street. The horse has been a key theme in the artist's oeuvre throughout the last sixty years. MF Husain, who earned both fame and wrath for his paintings, is regarded as the "Picasso of India". The top lot in the sale is MF Husain’s Untitled (Horses), an oil on canvas executed in 1978, estimated at £150,000-£250,000. In the offered lot, two crazed horses are portrayed bucking and kicking, with gaping mouths and wide staring eyes against a dark ink-blue background. The fawn bodies of the beasts are marked out in heavy black line and smudged shadows. The period of 1965-1975 was one of the most troubled decades in the history of modern India and the effects of the conflict heavily influenced Husain's painting. ... More
AP Photographer Anja Niedringhaus who was killed on April 4, 2014. AFP PHOTO / HO.
KHOST(AFP).- An Afghan police commander on Friday shot dead a female German photographer working for the Associated Press on the eve of presidential elections, in an attack that left a Canadian colleague wounded, the news agency said. The journalists were shot in their car in the Tanai district of Khost province, in the country's east, as they reported on distribution of ballot papers for the election to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai. The incident comes as Afghanistan undertakes a massive security operation to protect voters and polling officials, after the Taliban pledged to disrupt Saturday's ballot with violence. Anja Niedringhaus is the third journalist working for international media to be killed in Afghanistan during the election campaign, after Swedish journalist Nils Horner and Sardar Ahmad of Agence France-Presse. "Anja Niedringhaus, 48, an internationally acclaimed German ... More
Quote In life beauty perishes, but not in art. Leonardo da Vinci
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19th century Chinese porcelain screen hits $121,000 at Elite Decorative Arts auction BOYNTON BEACH, FLA.- An important 19th century Chinese porcelain screen consisting of four large panels mounted in a carved wooden frame and depicting mountain scenes with elders soared to $121,000 at a Fine Artwork, Porcelain & Decorative Arts Auction held March 29th by Elite Decorative Arts, in the firm’s gallery at 1034 Gateway Boulevard in Boynton Beach. The screen was by far the top lot of the sale and the final hammer price caught the Elite team, which had assigned it a modest pre-sale estimate of just $1,400-$1,800, a little by surprise. “But it only proves what we’ve been seeing recently,” said Scott Cieckiewicz of Elite Decorative Arts. “Chinese porcelain plaques and screens have become extremely popular and bring high dollars.” Case in point: a set of four Chinese famille rose porcelain plaques depicting the four seasons and housed in hardwood frames, with inscriptions ... More
Southwest weavings, pottery and baskets highlight June Native American art auction SAN FRANCISCO, CA.-Bonhams announced its Native American Art Auction, June 2 in San Francisco, featuring Southwest weavings from the collection of Alexandra and Sidney Sheldon of Malibu, Calif. The collection will highlight blankets from the classic and late classic periods of Navajo weaving, the star attraction of which will be a woman's blue field manta (est. $40,000-60,000). It will also include Mexican Saltillo serapes from as far back as the 18th century and Rio Grande blankets from the 19th century. The rarest on offer will be an ikat blanket that is one of a handful to exist (est. $15,000-25,000). Also from the collection will be Moki blankets and serapes, imbued with the rich indigo stripes that were a particular predilection of the Sheldons. One example is estimated at $20,000-30,000 and another at $12,000-18,000. Bonhams has been chosen to offer these connoisseurs' collection. Alexandra, ... More
"Shezad Dawood: Towards the Possible Film" opens at Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art LONDON.-Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art presents a solo exhibition of work by artist Shezad Dawood, from 4 April to 25 May 2014. Shezad Dawood: Towards the Possible Film comprises a group of recently executed light sculptures, an installation of large scale paintings on textile, and two films, one of which, Towards the Possible Film, gives its title to the exhibition and will have its UK premiere at Parasol unit. Dawood’s forms of expression seem to operate somewhere between the real and the surreal. But, on further examination, the dichotomy clearly provides a creative tool that allows the artist to examine fundamental questions of being and their significance to humanity. Many of Dawood’s questions and investigations are rooted in his own cultural heritage, life experience, and a deep desire to encourage communication between different cultures, people, and even the past and ... More
Suddenly We Jumped: Miami-based artist Antonia Wright opens exhibition at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles LOS ANGELES, CA.-Luis De Jesus Los Angeles presents Miami-based artist Antonia Wright in her second solo project with the Gallery, titled Suddenly We Jumped, on view from April 5 through May 10, 2014. An artist's reception will be held on Saturday, April 5th, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Originally performed live at Vizcaya Museum, Miami, Florida, during Art Basel Miami Beach 2013, "Suddenly We Jumped" is a new performance for video work by Antonia Wright in which she transforms her body into a mechanized weapon. Inspired by Futurist ideals and aesthetics, Wright's nude body is catapulted into the air where it violently smashes through a sheet of glass. Rendered in slow motion, the video captures her writhing figure as it comes into contact and then explodes through the glass, allowing for a heightened experience of the visual metaphor. "Suddenly We Jumped" continues Wright's focus ... More
Major exhibition showcases paintings and other works of James Spencer Russell INDIANAPOLIS, IND.- The Indiana State Museum hosts a major retrospective exhibition of 60+ paintings, drawings and mixed media wall constructions by Hoosier artist James Spencer Russell (1915-2000), from April 4 to October 12, 2014. The exhibition Style, Elegance and Wit: The Art of James Spencer Russell is drawn from the Indiana State Museum permanent fine art collection and several private Indiana collectors including Steve Conant, a noted Indiana art collector. Conant also wrote the forward for the exhibit catalog. “James Spencer Russell was virtually unknown in his native state of Indiana, yet earned a national reputation with his work regularly featured in gallery and museum exhibitions in New York City and across the United States for more than 30 years,” said Curator of Fine Art Mark Ruschman. “We present an extensive assortment of both personal artifacts and artwork; ... More
New series of works by Mona Kuhn on view at Flowers Gallery in London LONDON.- Abstraction is key in Mona Kuhn’s new series of works, on view in an exhibition at Flowers Gallery from 4th April – 10th May, 2014. The LA-based artist, acclaimed for her contemporary and intimate depictions of the nude, takes a new direction in this latest series titled: Acido Dorado. On view are a selection of photographic works ranging from landscapes, architectural details, reflections and a single figure repeatedly obscured and dislocated. Set against the backdrop of the Californian desert, and photographed at the golden modernist structure Acido Dorado in Joshua Tree National Park, Kuhn’s photographs playfully combine a number of visual strategies. Patterning, translucency and reflectivity are mixed with the casual closeness between photographer and her subject, Kuhn’s friend and collaborator Jacintha. Kuhn pushes the effect by introducing metallic foil as an additional ... More
Spring opening at the Irish Museum of Modern Art DUBLIN.- Following the success of the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s reopening in October 2013, IMMA announces its Spring 2014 opening with the launch of a major retrospective exhibition by internationally acclaimed Indian artist Sheela Gowda. To celebrate the opening of the exhibition Sheela Gowda Open Eye Policy IMMA presents a dynamic programme of exhibitions, activities and events, with something for everyone, on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 April 2014. Highlights include family activities as part of the family exhibition Light Rhythms – create your own sound installation with artist Karl Burke, try out your skills as a DJ with DJ Simon Conway, and contribute to a large scale sculpture in IMMA’s courtyard by artist Julian Wild; attend one of our many curator’s talks on IMMA’s exhibitions throughout the day culminating in a panel discussion with artist Sheela Gowda; attend the official Spring ... More
Galerie Christian Lethert opens Imi Knoebel's first solo exhibition with the gallery COLOGNE.-Galerie Christian Lethert presents Raum 19 IV, Imi Knoebel´s first solo-exhibition, at the gallery. Imi Knoebel belongs to the group of artists that have developed a radical, minimal form vocabulary in the 1960s. Since the beginning of his artistic career, Kasimir Malerwitsch has always been a very important reference point. Avoiding any figuration, his early work is characterized by a reduced use of color and a geometric form language: having started with black and white line paintings and hardboard installations, he later turned to colorful painting on wood or aluminum. His mostly serial work procedure on standardized materials always reveals the hand-made gesture of the artist, such as visible brush strokes. The room-installation Raum 19, which Imi Knoebel realised in the Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie in 1968, plays a major role in his non-figurative work that already back then ranges between ... More
Art and antiques retailer Mallett reports profit and increased turnover LONDON.-Mallett, the leading international art and antiques retailer, has announced an improved performance for the year ending 31 December 2013. Mallett saw an increased turnover of 16% to £11.8m, from £10.2m in 2012. The company’s underlying trading performance improved to a break-even profit position from a previous loss before tax of £0.3m in 2012. Mallett’s reported profit before tax was £0.5m, an increase from 2012’s pre-tax loss of £0.1m. The rush of sales in the first half of the year continued for Mallett US and resulted in a sales total of £6.8m, the second highest sales total from the US showroom since it opened in 2003 and over double that of 2012 which saw sales at £3.1m. Thus the decision to retain the US showroom in its entirety has been made, with the intention to maximise potential in the US market. “Our strategy of targeting new geographical areas has proved successful with ... More
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On a day like today, German painter Franz Pforr was born
September 05, 1788. Franz Pforr (5 April 1788 - 16 June 1812) was a painter of the German Nazarene movement. Pforr did not live long enough to see his art acknowledged. He died of tuberculosis in Albano Laziale, Rome at age 24. In this image: Portrait by Johann Friedrich Overbeck, 1810.
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