THE veteran art dealer Denis Savill has thrown down the gauntlet to his auction house rivals by going to market with a giant Brett Whiteley not seen in public for decades, which could attract one of the highest prices for Australian art this year.
Savill is selling Seagull , 1988, originally owned by the ad man John Singleton, for $1.6 million, along with several other major Australian works that have never been seen at auction.
Australia's art market is a long way from the halcyon days of 2010 when Sidney Nolan's First-Class Marksman sold for $5.4 million. But the Whiteley may pip Deutscher & Hackett's May 2 auction of Arthur Streeton's 1888 Settler's Camp, estimated to sell for as much as $1.5 million.
A week later, Sotheby's Australia hopes to get as much as $1.2 million for Frederick McCubbin's 1886 Whisperings in Wattle Boughs.
One of the highlights of last year's auction market was Whiteley's Washing the Salt Off 1 with its curvaceous, big-bottomed Bondi bathers, which went under the hammer at Menzies Art Brands for $1.55 million.
This year, Whiteley's name has attracted a different kind of publicity with a Sydney banker taking a Melbourne art dealer to court over a $2.5 million sale of an alleged fake Whiteley, one of three alleged fake Whiteleys circulating in the market.
Will the fakes make it harder to sell Seagull?
''I unconditionally think it has helped because if someone will pay $2.5 million for a bit of junk, this is a real painting twice the size, for $1.6 million,'' Savill said.
''I am not telling you it is the greatest Whiteley; I am telling you it is a real Whiteley.''
Seagull, with its brilliant blue sky, aquamarine sea and Whiteley's signature curves, stands nearly two metres high. Owned by Singleton, it was next bought for about $280,000 by a wealthy West Australian family who are selling after enjoying it in their Perth home for 24 years.
''It is slightly mad and slightly spiritual and very evocative of Whiteley's sense of space,'' Savill said.
2012年4月25日星期三
2012年4月24日星期二
Stake in Georgia O'Keeffe's art poised for sale by Fisk University
Fisk University may soon be able to generate cash from its 101-piece art collection donated by the late painter Georgia O'Keeffe.
On Monday, the Tennessee Supreme Court announced that it would let stand a ruling allowing the historically black university to complete a $30 million deal US to sell a 50 per cent stake in the collection to the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Ark.
The decision may mean the legal battle that's lasted more than a decade is all but over.
Officials at the cash-strapped Nashville school have said Fisk might be forced to close if it didn't sell the stake in the Stieglitz Collection to the museum built by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton.
"We're feeling pretty happy here," Fisk President Hazel O'Leary said. "We felt we had the clarity that the law was in our favour."
She said only a few administrative details need to be worked out before the case is closed.
The state of Tennessee has fought to keep the collection in Nashville. State lawyers argued that allowing the deal would have a chilling effect on future donations here because Fisk is going against the stipulations O'Keeffe made when she donated the collection to the school in 1949.
A spokeswoman for the state attorney's office said lawyers for the state were disappointed by the decision. It lets stand last year's Court of Appeals ruling that gave Fisk the green light to go ahead with the deal.
State attorneys had also argued that the art collection is a part of Nashville's cultural history and it needs to be protected because of the risk that it could be lost to Fisk's creditors. They said there is a risk that the entire collection could ultimately wind up in the Arkansas museum because of some of the wording in the contract between it and Fisk.
Under the proposed deal, the Arkansas museum would house the art two out of every four years. But the contract says the museum also has the right of first refusal for the remaining 50 per cent of the collection.
O'Keeffe donated 97 pieces of art to Fisk from the estate of her late husband, photographer Alfred Stiegltiz. The collection includes works by Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, Marsden Hartley, and Charles Demuth, among others. O'Keeffe also donated four of her paintings to the school because Fisk educated blacks in the segregated south.
But she stipulated that the collection must never be sold or broken up. Fisk had argued that the $131,000 US annual cost to display the art was more than the school could afford.
O'Leary said one of the questions that now must be resolved is whether $1 million US that Walton pledged to Fisk is adequate to upgrade the display place.
On Monday, the Tennessee Supreme Court announced that it would let stand a ruling allowing the historically black university to complete a $30 million deal US to sell a 50 per cent stake in the collection to the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Ark.
The decision may mean the legal battle that's lasted more than a decade is all but over.
Officials at the cash-strapped Nashville school have said Fisk might be forced to close if it didn't sell the stake in the Stieglitz Collection to the museum built by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton.
"We're feeling pretty happy here," Fisk President Hazel O'Leary said. "We felt we had the clarity that the law was in our favour."
She said only a few administrative details need to be worked out before the case is closed.
The state of Tennessee has fought to keep the collection in Nashville. State lawyers argued that allowing the deal would have a chilling effect on future donations here because Fisk is going against the stipulations O'Keeffe made when she donated the collection to the school in 1949.
A spokeswoman for the state attorney's office said lawyers for the state were disappointed by the decision. It lets stand last year's Court of Appeals ruling that gave Fisk the green light to go ahead with the deal.
State attorneys had also argued that the art collection is a part of Nashville's cultural history and it needs to be protected because of the risk that it could be lost to Fisk's creditors. They said there is a risk that the entire collection could ultimately wind up in the Arkansas museum because of some of the wording in the contract between it and Fisk.
Under the proposed deal, the Arkansas museum would house the art two out of every four years. But the contract says the museum also has the right of first refusal for the remaining 50 per cent of the collection.
O'Keeffe donated 97 pieces of art to Fisk from the estate of her late husband, photographer Alfred Stiegltiz. The collection includes works by Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, Marsden Hartley, and Charles Demuth, among others. O'Keeffe also donated four of her paintings to the school because Fisk educated blacks in the segregated south.
But she stipulated that the collection must never be sold or broken up. Fisk had argued that the $131,000 US annual cost to display the art was more than the school could afford.
O'Leary said one of the questions that now must be resolved is whether $1 million US that Walton pledged to Fisk is adequate to upgrade the display place.
2012年4月23日星期一
Record prices for Grosvenor artists at print auction
Records tumbled at Bonhams sale of linocut prints by Grosvenor School artists, featured in this column last week.
For Claude Flight, the central figure and teacher at the school, the previous 26,000 auction record was broken three times, led by Speed, an image of red London buses hurtling down Regent Street in the 1920s, which sold to an American private collector for 49,250.
A British private collector paid 82,850 for Sybil Andrews’s classic of motorbike racers, Speedway. This briefly held the record for any Grosvenor School print until, with the final lot of the sale, The Gust of Wind (pictured), by the Australian artist Ethel Spowers, blew away its 15,000 to 20,000 estimate to sell for 114,500 to another American collector.
Even the lesser-known Grosvenor artists were in demand, such as Ursula Fookes, whose view of a mining town soared over its 1,000 estimate to sell for 9,000. Such prices sent dealers scurrying back to their stock books to revalue their holdings in time for the opening of the London Original Print Fair.
From this week, Leighton House Museum in Holland Park hosts the first display of works from the collection of John Schaeffer, one of the most important collectors of Victorian art in the last 40 years.
The history of how Schaeffer, a highly successful businessman in Australia, fell in love with Victorian art, amassed a huge collection, then sold much of it following a painful divorce, only to continue buying and rebuild the collection, will make fascinating reading one day.
At Leighton House half of the works on show were bought at a Christie’s sale of the Forbes collection in 2003, just when many professionals thought he was out of the market.
The sale was rated a huge success and Schaeffer, unknown to most, was part of that. While he did pay record prices for some of the artists - Richard Redgrave, Thomas Faed, James Archer and John Linnell, he also snapped up bargains by Waterhouse and Holman Hunt at half their estimated prices. Schaeffer’s relationship with Leighton House has been a fruitful one.
The museum now owns three key paintings by GF Watts and Frederic Leighton that were previously owned by Schaeffer.
This time last year a drawing of a fishing boat on a beach by Lucian Freud sold at Sotheby’s for a record 2.6 million. Even more astonishing was the fact that it sold not to a wealthy private collector, but to the dealer Jean-Luc Baroni, who has a gallery in London run by his daughter, Novella.
Probably better known for handling Old Masters, the Baronis were giving notice that modern art was their field, too, so long as the quality was right. But could they re-sell a Freud drawing at that price level?
The answer is yes, because at the Salon du Dessin, the drawings fair in Paris this month, Baroni offered the drawing at 3.3 million, and sold it.
For Claude Flight, the central figure and teacher at the school, the previous 26,000 auction record was broken three times, led by Speed, an image of red London buses hurtling down Regent Street in the 1920s, which sold to an American private collector for 49,250.
A British private collector paid 82,850 for Sybil Andrews’s classic of motorbike racers, Speedway. This briefly held the record for any Grosvenor School print until, with the final lot of the sale, The Gust of Wind (pictured), by the Australian artist Ethel Spowers, blew away its 15,000 to 20,000 estimate to sell for 114,500 to another American collector.
Even the lesser-known Grosvenor artists were in demand, such as Ursula Fookes, whose view of a mining town soared over its 1,000 estimate to sell for 9,000. Such prices sent dealers scurrying back to their stock books to revalue their holdings in time for the opening of the London Original Print Fair.
From this week, Leighton House Museum in Holland Park hosts the first display of works from the collection of John Schaeffer, one of the most important collectors of Victorian art in the last 40 years.
The history of how Schaeffer, a highly successful businessman in Australia, fell in love with Victorian art, amassed a huge collection, then sold much of it following a painful divorce, only to continue buying and rebuild the collection, will make fascinating reading one day.
At Leighton House half of the works on show were bought at a Christie’s sale of the Forbes collection in 2003, just when many professionals thought he was out of the market.
The sale was rated a huge success and Schaeffer, unknown to most, was part of that. While he did pay record prices for some of the artists - Richard Redgrave, Thomas Faed, James Archer and John Linnell, he also snapped up bargains by Waterhouse and Holman Hunt at half their estimated prices. Schaeffer’s relationship with Leighton House has been a fruitful one.
The museum now owns three key paintings by GF Watts and Frederic Leighton that were previously owned by Schaeffer.
This time last year a drawing of a fishing boat on a beach by Lucian Freud sold at Sotheby’s for a record 2.6 million. Even more astonishing was the fact that it sold not to a wealthy private collector, but to the dealer Jean-Luc Baroni, who has a gallery in London run by his daughter, Novella.
Probably better known for handling Old Masters, the Baronis were giving notice that modern art was their field, too, so long as the quality was right. But could they re-sell a Freud drawing at that price level?
The answer is yes, because at the Salon du Dessin, the drawings fair in Paris this month, Baroni offered the drawing at 3.3 million, and sold it.
2012年4月22日星期日
Agape Center's art exhibit makes a statement
In this art exhibit are oil paintings, pastel prints, pencil drawings and engraving art. They are paintings with titles like “Portrait of a Lady,” “Lovely Day at the Park,” “Seascape,” “The Garden” and “Ocean Fish.”
They have been painted by those with schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder. They are the ones who many think would be the last ones to patiently express themselves with serene, detailed, three-
dimensional perspective paintings.
“A lot of people think those with major mental illness are just violent, capricious, impulsive,” Tony Foster said. “We get accused of being lazy because of a debilitating condition.
“There seems to be a caricature of somebody out of their tree instead of someone suffering pretty bad and trying to make it through this life.”
The Agape Center Art Exhibit 2012 is a first for the peer support group center for those with a mental illness. Almost 90 drawings are on display and for sale through Saturday at the Panhandle Art Center, adjacent to The Galleries at Sunset Center, 3701 Plains Blvd.
The purpose is twofold: to raise money for a center that operates on a shoestring budget and to counter the stereotypes of those who fight the unpredictable demons of mental illness.
“There’s so many stigmas out there,” said Bonnie Taylor, interim executive director of Agape Center. “We get painted in a lot of ways.”
No irony intended. Taylor has eight pieces of art on display that she completed over two months.
The Agape Center, governed by Amarillo Area Mental Health Consumers, has quietly operated in the basement of Buchanan Street Chapel, 1515 S. Buchanan St. for 15 years. It offers support groups, peer counseling, employee assistance, social outings, crafts and other outlets.
“It’s about getting people back into the community and being productive citizens,” said Foster, who is in the process of taking a break as executive director. “We have people going to college, trying to get their degree. It’s about working with the whole person, and turning that person into something useful in society.”
Foster was referred to the Agape Center in 2003. He was battling clinical depression and panic disorder. It was, he said, “excruciating.” The therapy he found helped ease his inner pain.
“There’s people there who understood how I was feeling and weren’t going to judge me,” Foster said. “There’s a collective group of people who have a common experience that make you feel accepted and comfortable.”
Those who show improvement over time often become staff members, facilitators in group discussion, or in Foster’s case, executive director. Agape Center receives a yearly grant from the state, but beyond that, fundraises to remain viable.
“By the end of the fiscal year, I always wonder how we can provide transportation and keep the lights on,” he said. “Even though what we do is important, it doesn’t have that big of a fanfare, and it should. It really should.”
The art exhibit came along almost by happenstance. Marcia Morgan, who has a background in art, began teaching a class at Agape Center last September. About a dozen decided to give it a try.
“They were eager to learn, were engaging, wanted to please,” Morgan said. “They were proud of their work, and it gave them a sense of value.”
Foster said the class came at the right time, a pick-them-up when things were running a little stagnant.
“I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but it was kind of flat, and this got people moving,” he said. “It was an impetus that got people excited about life again.”
Over several months, the artwork began to add up, and, for novices, the work was surprisingly good. Very few pieces, if any, reflect dark moods. In January, Agape and the Panhandle Art Center agreed to partner for the exhibit that opened April 6.
It is a way to showcase their art, and a way to raise a bit of money. Maybe there’s a statement too, that these handful, among an estimated 25.5 million in the U.S. who have schizophrenia, clinical depression or are bipolar, are just looking to better their lives and feel good about themselves.
They have been painted by those with schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder. They are the ones who many think would be the last ones to patiently express themselves with serene, detailed, three-
dimensional perspective paintings.
“A lot of people think those with major mental illness are just violent, capricious, impulsive,” Tony Foster said. “We get accused of being lazy because of a debilitating condition.
“There seems to be a caricature of somebody out of their tree instead of someone suffering pretty bad and trying to make it through this life.”
The Agape Center Art Exhibit 2012 is a first for the peer support group center for those with a mental illness. Almost 90 drawings are on display and for sale through Saturday at the Panhandle Art Center, adjacent to The Galleries at Sunset Center, 3701 Plains Blvd.
The purpose is twofold: to raise money for a center that operates on a shoestring budget and to counter the stereotypes of those who fight the unpredictable demons of mental illness.
“There’s so many stigmas out there,” said Bonnie Taylor, interim executive director of Agape Center. “We get painted in a lot of ways.”
No irony intended. Taylor has eight pieces of art on display that she completed over two months.
The Agape Center, governed by Amarillo Area Mental Health Consumers, has quietly operated in the basement of Buchanan Street Chapel, 1515 S. Buchanan St. for 15 years. It offers support groups, peer counseling, employee assistance, social outings, crafts and other outlets.
“It’s about getting people back into the community and being productive citizens,” said Foster, who is in the process of taking a break as executive director. “We have people going to college, trying to get their degree. It’s about working with the whole person, and turning that person into something useful in society.”
Foster was referred to the Agape Center in 2003. He was battling clinical depression and panic disorder. It was, he said, “excruciating.” The therapy he found helped ease his inner pain.
“There’s people there who understood how I was feeling and weren’t going to judge me,” Foster said. “There’s a collective group of people who have a common experience that make you feel accepted and comfortable.”
Those who show improvement over time often become staff members, facilitators in group discussion, or in Foster’s case, executive director. Agape Center receives a yearly grant from the state, but beyond that, fundraises to remain viable.
“By the end of the fiscal year, I always wonder how we can provide transportation and keep the lights on,” he said. “Even though what we do is important, it doesn’t have that big of a fanfare, and it should. It really should.”
The art exhibit came along almost by happenstance. Marcia Morgan, who has a background in art, began teaching a class at Agape Center last September. About a dozen decided to give it a try.
“They were eager to learn, were engaging, wanted to please,” Morgan said. “They were proud of their work, and it gave them a sense of value.”
Foster said the class came at the right time, a pick-them-up when things were running a little stagnant.
“I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but it was kind of flat, and this got people moving,” he said. “It was an impetus that got people excited about life again.”
Over several months, the artwork began to add up, and, for novices, the work was surprisingly good. Very few pieces, if any, reflect dark moods. In January, Agape and the Panhandle Art Center agreed to partner for the exhibit that opened April 6.
It is a way to showcase their art, and a way to raise a bit of money. Maybe there’s a statement too, that these handful, among an estimated 25.5 million in the U.S. who have schizophrenia, clinical depression or are bipolar, are just looking to better their lives and feel good about themselves.
2012年4月19日星期四
Fine art among many highlights at Gray's sale May 3
Composed of paintings, sculptures and works on paper, as well as fine furniture, jewelry, rugs and decorative collectibles, the May auction promises exceptional treasure for every taste, said Serena Harragin of Gray's Auctioneers.
Auction highlights include a number of artworks by modern masters. Lot 22, Snake in a Landscape, is a fantastic, late-career Surrealist drawing by Salvador Dali done on stationary from Hotel Meurice, Paris.
Lots 20 and 21 are two engravings by Pablo Picasso from the Vollard Suite, a collection of superb prints made by the artist between 1930 and 1937 for the acclaimed art critic and dealer Ambroise Vollard. Both pieces depict scenes from an artist’s studio, a subject addressed frequently by Picasso in his body of work, and also highlight his love of sensual allusion and sly wit. Note, for instance, the intriguingly androgynous figure featured in the second picture, Seated Nude with Painted Sculpted Head.
The auction also features a dynamic, offset colored lithograph by renowned American painter and printmaker Frank Stella. This 1982 abstract artwork, Yellow Journal, is signed and dated by the artist and numbered print 14 of a 50 run series.
Another fine art piece featured in the sale is a striking allegorical figure pairing titled Vanity and Modesty, painted in oil by Giuseppe Mazzolani after Bernardino Luini. Working in the high Renaissance circle of Leonard da Vinci, Luini is known for his depictions of lovely, large-eyed women. Here, the personification of Vanity on the right demands the viewer’s attention with her gaze, while the humbly dressed embodiment of Modesty seated beside her points to the heavens in a gesture of reverence.
Another extremely elegant object included in the sale is Amedeo Gennarelli’s Tireur d’Arc, a fine work of sculpture in bronze featuring a superbly rendered archer poised to shoot. It has a legible foundry mark and artist signature on the base.
Gray’s is also delighted to offer a number of decorative arts, furniture, and jewelry pieces in the May sale. Notably, a stunning Art Deco ring and brooch in white gold with diamonds and onyx comprise lots 132 and 133.
A uniquely grand piece for the home is lot 180, a fire screen with delicate scrolling branches and wildlife in wrought iron attributed to Samuel Yellin. Yellin is considered one of America’s most masterful blacksmiths and preeminent designer of decorative architectural pieces.
Some of the most fascinating items in the sale are lots 147 through 149, a collection of medals awarded to Dr. George William Lewis, former director of aeronautical research at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, better known today by its precedent organization, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Lewis managed the committee’s political and research technological endeavors during his tenure as director, and under his guidance, engineers at NACA’s Langley Research Center made outstanding advancements in the field of aerodynamics. The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland is partly named after him.
Finally, Gray’s will be auctioning as lot 1 a gorgeous pair of Oscar de la Renta mahogany armchairs for the benefit of Girls with Sole, a Northeast Ohio charitable organization that helps to empower young women who have been victims of abuse through the physically and emotionally healing practice of fitness and athletics. There is no buyer’s premium for this purchase and 100 percent of the proceeds earned from the sale of the Oscar de la Renta armchairs will go to this worthy organization that Gray’s is proud to support.
Auction highlights include a number of artworks by modern masters. Lot 22, Snake in a Landscape, is a fantastic, late-career Surrealist drawing by Salvador Dali done on stationary from Hotel Meurice, Paris.
Lots 20 and 21 are two engravings by Pablo Picasso from the Vollard Suite, a collection of superb prints made by the artist between 1930 and 1937 for the acclaimed art critic and dealer Ambroise Vollard. Both pieces depict scenes from an artist’s studio, a subject addressed frequently by Picasso in his body of work, and also highlight his love of sensual allusion and sly wit. Note, for instance, the intriguingly androgynous figure featured in the second picture, Seated Nude with Painted Sculpted Head.
The auction also features a dynamic, offset colored lithograph by renowned American painter and printmaker Frank Stella. This 1982 abstract artwork, Yellow Journal, is signed and dated by the artist and numbered print 14 of a 50 run series.
Another fine art piece featured in the sale is a striking allegorical figure pairing titled Vanity and Modesty, painted in oil by Giuseppe Mazzolani after Bernardino Luini. Working in the high Renaissance circle of Leonard da Vinci, Luini is known for his depictions of lovely, large-eyed women. Here, the personification of Vanity on the right demands the viewer’s attention with her gaze, while the humbly dressed embodiment of Modesty seated beside her points to the heavens in a gesture of reverence.
Another extremely elegant object included in the sale is Amedeo Gennarelli’s Tireur d’Arc, a fine work of sculpture in bronze featuring a superbly rendered archer poised to shoot. It has a legible foundry mark and artist signature on the base.
Gray’s is also delighted to offer a number of decorative arts, furniture, and jewelry pieces in the May sale. Notably, a stunning Art Deco ring and brooch in white gold with diamonds and onyx comprise lots 132 and 133.
A uniquely grand piece for the home is lot 180, a fire screen with delicate scrolling branches and wildlife in wrought iron attributed to Samuel Yellin. Yellin is considered one of America’s most masterful blacksmiths and preeminent designer of decorative architectural pieces.
Some of the most fascinating items in the sale are lots 147 through 149, a collection of medals awarded to Dr. George William Lewis, former director of aeronautical research at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, better known today by its precedent organization, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Lewis managed the committee’s political and research technological endeavors during his tenure as director, and under his guidance, engineers at NACA’s Langley Research Center made outstanding advancements in the field of aerodynamics. The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland is partly named after him.
Finally, Gray’s will be auctioning as lot 1 a gorgeous pair of Oscar de la Renta mahogany armchairs for the benefit of Girls with Sole, a Northeast Ohio charitable organization that helps to empower young women who have been victims of abuse through the physically and emotionally healing practice of fitness and athletics. There is no buyer’s premium for this purchase and 100 percent of the proceeds earned from the sale of the Oscar de la Renta armchairs will go to this worthy organization that Gray’s is proud to support.
2012年4月18日星期三
Artistic license set loose at the All About Art exhibit
Art lovers will have a heyday this weekend when the All About Art Club hosts its annual art show and sale in the Yemassee Craft Center Art Room. Original oils, acrylics, ceramics, watercolors, pastels, photography and more will be on display, all from the eyes and hands of Sun City’s vast corps of talented artists.
Among the many artists preparing to hang their work are three who depict their vision in different media.
Pat Everson, who has worked in different formats, from oil to acrylic paints, now focuses on PanPastels, a palette-style method of creating paintings with chalk.
Denis Reshetar works on a very large scale, building wooden frames in various shapes around which he stretches canvas he then paints.
Mary Ann Putzier works in watercolor and porcelain, learning each time she prepares to teach a new class.
“Teaching always gets me going because if I am going to teach floral painting, then I have to paint fresh ones. I can’t bring up old paintings as examples,” Putzier said in her well-lighted studio. Among the classes she has taught at the community’s art room are “Saving your Whites” and making a watercolor canvas. Next year, she expects to teach how to paint reflections and possibly portraits, her favorite subject.
“Portraits are the most satisfying. Not only to capture the likeness but the personality,” she said.
Her mother and grandmother were quite artistic, Putzier said, and she and her eight siblings were raised on drawing.
“All of us have some kind of artistic skills, especially the girls,” she said. It taught her to see, to observe. “If you can’t see it, you can’t draw it and you can’t paint it. Of course, once you see it, you can take liberties like Picasso and others. They weren’t copyists. They took the truth and bent it.”
Reshetar thinks in the summer and then creates in the fall and winter.
“I usually have thoughts on paper — the shapes I want to do and the designs I want to paint on them,” he said. He builds his own wooden frames, sometimes taking one completely apart after the design fails to come together.
“It usually takes me a week of 10-12 hours when I get going,” he said. “I like big stuff, different shapes. Big or narrow, horizontal or vertical. And usually difficult to put into a house.”
He said he repainted one square vision four or five times until he finally started all over from scratch, scrapping the canvas and rebuilding the canvas frame into a different shape.
“I usually spend as much time making the frame as doing the painting,” he said. Originally a ceramicist and sculptor in college, Reshetar has taken some of those skills and reapplied them to both his frames and his painting technique.
One painting has a 3D effect as one side seems to pull away from the wall. A few paintings Reshetar has hanging in his home were created by what he calls the “lost wax” technique, a process used in making molds. Across the surface of the painting — a blending of colors that graduate to more intense hues from the center out — he adds the finishing touch, a deliberate splash or dripline of black paint.
“When it has dried enough that the edges are hard, I take it outside and hose it off,” he said. What remains behind is an outline of the splash, the painting’s colors popping back out.
Everson began attending the Silvermine Guild of Art in Connecticut when she was 12 and studied art through high school. An argument she no longer recalls with an art instructor turned her against her training and she earned a degree in psychology in college.
“Art was always with me. I couldn’t get away from it,” Everson said. “Even in the two 10-year stretches I abandoned it, it was always behind me, nagging me.”
Now concentrating on the use of pastels, she finds that keeping up with the ever-evolving techniques and resources is just a small part of being an artist.
“You have to keep current,” she said. Originally an oil painter, Everson acquired adult asthma and found that being in the presence of the chemicals used was unhealthy. She had to change her medium and moved to acrylic and has taught the subject to Sun City students.
That, too, became a problem with her asthma and now she has moved to pastels, a medium that uses no chemicals with which to create. In the process of researching these tools, Everson discovered a whole new concept in the use of PanPastels, a set of colored chalk discs that have low dust issues, one of the challenges of using chalk.
Rather than create the painting with pastel sticks, Everson is able to apply the chalk with sponge-tipped applicators. The different shaped heads allow for various results on the paper and stick pastels may still be used to provide an opaque sharp line, if desired.
It’s all part of Everson’s pursuit of perfection through practice.
“Once you learn to paint well, you learn to create well. I’ve become progressively more intent on pursuing art and you can’t just stick with the old ways,” she said. “You have to keep up with new products. You can have thoughts in your head but you technically have to be able to put those thoughts down on paper or canvas.”
Among the many artists preparing to hang their work are three who depict their vision in different media.
Pat Everson, who has worked in different formats, from oil to acrylic paints, now focuses on PanPastels, a palette-style method of creating paintings with chalk.
Denis Reshetar works on a very large scale, building wooden frames in various shapes around which he stretches canvas he then paints.
Mary Ann Putzier works in watercolor and porcelain, learning each time she prepares to teach a new class.
“Teaching always gets me going because if I am going to teach floral painting, then I have to paint fresh ones. I can’t bring up old paintings as examples,” Putzier said in her well-lighted studio. Among the classes she has taught at the community’s art room are “Saving your Whites” and making a watercolor canvas. Next year, she expects to teach how to paint reflections and possibly portraits, her favorite subject.
“Portraits are the most satisfying. Not only to capture the likeness but the personality,” she said.
Her mother and grandmother were quite artistic, Putzier said, and she and her eight siblings were raised on drawing.
“All of us have some kind of artistic skills, especially the girls,” she said. It taught her to see, to observe. “If you can’t see it, you can’t draw it and you can’t paint it. Of course, once you see it, you can take liberties like Picasso and others. They weren’t copyists. They took the truth and bent it.”
Reshetar thinks in the summer and then creates in the fall and winter.
“I usually have thoughts on paper — the shapes I want to do and the designs I want to paint on them,” he said. He builds his own wooden frames, sometimes taking one completely apart after the design fails to come together.
“It usually takes me a week of 10-12 hours when I get going,” he said. “I like big stuff, different shapes. Big or narrow, horizontal or vertical. And usually difficult to put into a house.”
He said he repainted one square vision four or five times until he finally started all over from scratch, scrapping the canvas and rebuilding the canvas frame into a different shape.
“I usually spend as much time making the frame as doing the painting,” he said. Originally a ceramicist and sculptor in college, Reshetar has taken some of those skills and reapplied them to both his frames and his painting technique.
One painting has a 3D effect as one side seems to pull away from the wall. A few paintings Reshetar has hanging in his home were created by what he calls the “lost wax” technique, a process used in making molds. Across the surface of the painting — a blending of colors that graduate to more intense hues from the center out — he adds the finishing touch, a deliberate splash or dripline of black paint.
“When it has dried enough that the edges are hard, I take it outside and hose it off,” he said. What remains behind is an outline of the splash, the painting’s colors popping back out.
Everson began attending the Silvermine Guild of Art in Connecticut when she was 12 and studied art through high school. An argument she no longer recalls with an art instructor turned her against her training and she earned a degree in psychology in college.
“Art was always with me. I couldn’t get away from it,” Everson said. “Even in the two 10-year stretches I abandoned it, it was always behind me, nagging me.”
Now concentrating on the use of pastels, she finds that keeping up with the ever-evolving techniques and resources is just a small part of being an artist.
“You have to keep current,” she said. Originally an oil painter, Everson acquired adult asthma and found that being in the presence of the chemicals used was unhealthy. She had to change her medium and moved to acrylic and has taught the subject to Sun City students.
That, too, became a problem with her asthma and now she has moved to pastels, a medium that uses no chemicals with which to create. In the process of researching these tools, Everson discovered a whole new concept in the use of PanPastels, a set of colored chalk discs that have low dust issues, one of the challenges of using chalk.
Rather than create the painting with pastel sticks, Everson is able to apply the chalk with sponge-tipped applicators. The different shaped heads allow for various results on the paper and stick pastels may still be used to provide an opaque sharp line, if desired.
It’s all part of Everson’s pursuit of perfection through practice.
“Once you learn to paint well, you learn to create well. I’ve become progressively more intent on pursuing art and you can’t just stick with the old ways,” she said. “You have to keep up with new products. You can have thoughts in your head but you technically have to be able to put those thoughts down on paper or canvas.”
2012年4月17日星期二
Earth Celebration Day planned by Renfrew Institute
A full day of discovery, education, music, art and shopping is planned during Renfrew Institute’s Earth Celebration Day and Festival of Art fun from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, at Renfrew Park in Waynesboro.
Now in its 22nd year, the celebration also features a clothesline art exhibit and dozens of exhibitor displays featuring everything from beekeeping to archaeology to gardening. Held in conjunction with the event, the seventh annual Recycle/Reuse Yard Sale is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the park.
Twenty area artists will display, demonstrate and sell their works during the Festival of Art. These include a variety of fine art, jewelry, photography, basketry, garden art and pottery. Earth themes will be in the spotlight.
“The goal is to offer to the public the concept that art, in its many forms, reflects our effort to celebrate the earth and its life through artistic expression,” said Melodie Anderson-Smith, institute executive director.
The seventh annual “Renfrew Institute Environmental Artistry Award” will be presented to a local artist, in honor of outstanding lifetime achievement.
Art activities for children will be offered.
Slim Harrison will returns this year with his “good time mountain music.” Kids can use his handmade instruments or bring their own to play along as part of the Sunnyland Band.
Local artist and musician, Patric Schlee will lead an “improv music session” beginning at 3 p.m.
“Bring drums, flutes, guitars or a didgeridoo — any instrument — and jam with Earth Day Concert No. 3,” Anderson-Smith said. The improv session is open to everyone.
Several hands-on, earth-friendly activities are planned. A creek cleanup is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., hosted by Franklin County Conservation District. Anyone interested in helping should bring gloves.
The Franklin County Commissioners and Washington Township supervisors are sponsoring free personal document shredding from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Washington Township office parking lot off Welty Road. There is a limit of 10 bags or boxes per person, and the following items cannot be processed: newspapers, three-ring binders, carbon paper, film, metal, cardboard, trash or heavy plastics.
In the spirit of recycling, several area groups are collecting items for reuse or proper disposal. The Lions Club will collect used eyeglasses and cell phones, and Summitview Elementary School will collect used printer cartridges (no copy toner cartridges). A disposal bin for used batteries will be available. All types of household and electronic device batteries are accepted, except large acid batteries that exceed 11 pounds.
CFAR/Waynesboro Running organizers are collecting “gently used running shoes” to support the Waynesboro Area Middle School running team.
Again this year, the Franklin County Commissioners will present an official proclamation declaring April as Earth Awareness Month. A ceremonial tree planting is also planned.
Now in its 22nd year, the celebration also features a clothesline art exhibit and dozens of exhibitor displays featuring everything from beekeeping to archaeology to gardening. Held in conjunction with the event, the seventh annual Recycle/Reuse Yard Sale is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the park.
Twenty area artists will display, demonstrate and sell their works during the Festival of Art. These include a variety of fine art, jewelry, photography, basketry, garden art and pottery. Earth themes will be in the spotlight.
“The goal is to offer to the public the concept that art, in its many forms, reflects our effort to celebrate the earth and its life through artistic expression,” said Melodie Anderson-Smith, institute executive director.
The seventh annual “Renfrew Institute Environmental Artistry Award” will be presented to a local artist, in honor of outstanding lifetime achievement.
Art activities for children will be offered.
Slim Harrison will returns this year with his “good time mountain music.” Kids can use his handmade instruments or bring their own to play along as part of the Sunnyland Band.
Local artist and musician, Patric Schlee will lead an “improv music session” beginning at 3 p.m.
“Bring drums, flutes, guitars or a didgeridoo — any instrument — and jam with Earth Day Concert No. 3,” Anderson-Smith said. The improv session is open to everyone.
Several hands-on, earth-friendly activities are planned. A creek cleanup is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., hosted by Franklin County Conservation District. Anyone interested in helping should bring gloves.
The Franklin County Commissioners and Washington Township supervisors are sponsoring free personal document shredding from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Washington Township office parking lot off Welty Road. There is a limit of 10 bags or boxes per person, and the following items cannot be processed: newspapers, three-ring binders, carbon paper, film, metal, cardboard, trash or heavy plastics.
In the spirit of recycling, several area groups are collecting items for reuse or proper disposal. The Lions Club will collect used eyeglasses and cell phones, and Summitview Elementary School will collect used printer cartridges (no copy toner cartridges). A disposal bin for used batteries will be available. All types of household and electronic device batteries are accepted, except large acid batteries that exceed 11 pounds.
CFAR/Waynesboro Running organizers are collecting “gently used running shoes” to support the Waynesboro Area Middle School running team.
Again this year, the Franklin County Commissioners will present an official proclamation declaring April as Earth Awareness Month. A ceremonial tree planting is also planned.
2012年4月16日星期一
Garage sale junkie finds Tom Thomson and Fred Varley
It’s a garage sale junkie’s dream: to find hidden art treasures at bargain basement prices.
And that’s what happened to one Vancouver bargain hunter and amateur art connoisseur who bought what he believed to be paintings by two iconic members of the Group of Seven — Tom Thomson and Frederick Varley.
The bargain hunter, who doesn’t want to be identified, bought the paintings at a garage sale for $100, convinced they were legitimate. He then took the two paintings — one a watercolour, the other an oil on panel — to Maynards fine art and antiques auction house earlier this year for authentication.
When Kate Bellringer, director of Canadian and contemporary art, took a look at them she was initially skeptical. “We get a lot of people at Maynards who come in with things they’ve found,” she explained in an interview with the Toronto Star. Nevertheless, each piece has to be looked at and examined and researched.
Bellringer began by taking the paintings to local experts for reaction. They came back with the same opinion: the paintings seemed to be authentic.
Then she consulted experts across Canada and flew to Toronto to have the paintings examined by an expert here. The conclusion was the same: the paintings appeared to be legitimate.
“It took two months to make sure they were real,” she said. “But it’s very exciting for us.”
Now, the paintings are to be auctioned off on May 16th.
The Thomson is valued at $150,000 to $250,000 while the Varley is valued at a more conservative $4,000 to $6,000.
The prices are on the conservative side because the auction house doesn’t know the provenance (the history of ownership) of the paintings.
That doesn’t take away from their artistic value. The Varley is a watercolour done in 1901 and depicts a cityscape of his hometown of Sheffield in England. It was likely painted when Varley was on vacation from studying art in Antwerp, Belgium, Bellringer said.
“It’s an early example of his work before he became the Varley we know. It’s him as a young painter.”
The Thomson oil painting of a sunrise over a lake in Algonquin Park was likely done in the spring or summer of 1915, said Bellringer.
“Thomson only painted for a brief period from about 1912 or 1913 to his untimely demise.”
The period of 1915 to 1917 is believed to be Thomson’s prime years for painting.
This painting is clearly from a “turning point in his style,” said Bellringer. It is vibrant with peachy colours, pale purples and blues in the sky, Bellringer said.
“The sky looks like it is coming awake. Because there is no foreground in the painting, I believe he painted this in his canoe.”
The Thomson was quite dirty when it was bought and has been cleaned by a conservator since then. Initially you didn’t see any of the colours, Bellringer said.
And the signature was difficult to make out. Part of it was missing — partially because of the dirt, and also because Bellringer believes a previous attempt at cleaning it had removed some of the signature.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with these paintings and looking at these paintings and I personally do think they’re beautiful,” she said.
The news that Maynard has two Group of Sevens on the auction block has prompted many inquiries, Bellringer said.
“We’ve had a lot of people call and come in to see the paintings.”
How that interest will translate when the painting is auctioned off is anyone’s guess.
But Bellringer points out the most expensive Tom Thomson went for over $2 million. “This one, if it had come in and had the proper provenance, I would have priced it at around $600,000.”
The find and the news of the auction has also triggered hundreds of phone calls from people who have found things at garage sales — all of them convinced they’re sitting on a fortune in undiscovered art and antiques.
So Bellringer will be busy over the next few months taking a look at these hopeful finds and evaluating them.
And that’s what happened to one Vancouver bargain hunter and amateur art connoisseur who bought what he believed to be paintings by two iconic members of the Group of Seven — Tom Thomson and Frederick Varley.
The bargain hunter, who doesn’t want to be identified, bought the paintings at a garage sale for $100, convinced they were legitimate. He then took the two paintings — one a watercolour, the other an oil on panel — to Maynards fine art and antiques auction house earlier this year for authentication.
When Kate Bellringer, director of Canadian and contemporary art, took a look at them she was initially skeptical. “We get a lot of people at Maynards who come in with things they’ve found,” she explained in an interview with the Toronto Star. Nevertheless, each piece has to be looked at and examined and researched.
Bellringer began by taking the paintings to local experts for reaction. They came back with the same opinion: the paintings seemed to be authentic.
Then she consulted experts across Canada and flew to Toronto to have the paintings examined by an expert here. The conclusion was the same: the paintings appeared to be legitimate.
“It took two months to make sure they were real,” she said. “But it’s very exciting for us.”
Now, the paintings are to be auctioned off on May 16th.
The Thomson is valued at $150,000 to $250,000 while the Varley is valued at a more conservative $4,000 to $6,000.
The prices are on the conservative side because the auction house doesn’t know the provenance (the history of ownership) of the paintings.
That doesn’t take away from their artistic value. The Varley is a watercolour done in 1901 and depicts a cityscape of his hometown of Sheffield in England. It was likely painted when Varley was on vacation from studying art in Antwerp, Belgium, Bellringer said.
“It’s an early example of his work before he became the Varley we know. It’s him as a young painter.”
The Thomson oil painting of a sunrise over a lake in Algonquin Park was likely done in the spring or summer of 1915, said Bellringer.
“Thomson only painted for a brief period from about 1912 or 1913 to his untimely demise.”
The period of 1915 to 1917 is believed to be Thomson’s prime years for painting.
This painting is clearly from a “turning point in his style,” said Bellringer. It is vibrant with peachy colours, pale purples and blues in the sky, Bellringer said.
“The sky looks like it is coming awake. Because there is no foreground in the painting, I believe he painted this in his canoe.”
The Thomson was quite dirty when it was bought and has been cleaned by a conservator since then. Initially you didn’t see any of the colours, Bellringer said.
And the signature was difficult to make out. Part of it was missing — partially because of the dirt, and also because Bellringer believes a previous attempt at cleaning it had removed some of the signature.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with these paintings and looking at these paintings and I personally do think they’re beautiful,” she said.
The news that Maynard has two Group of Sevens on the auction block has prompted many inquiries, Bellringer said.
“We’ve had a lot of people call and come in to see the paintings.”
How that interest will translate when the painting is auctioned off is anyone’s guess.
But Bellringer points out the most expensive Tom Thomson went for over $2 million. “This one, if it had come in and had the proper provenance, I would have priced it at around $600,000.”
The find and the news of the auction has also triggered hundreds of phone calls from people who have found things at garage sales — all of them convinced they’re sitting on a fortune in undiscovered art and antiques.
So Bellringer will be busy over the next few months taking a look at these hopeful finds and evaluating them.
2012年4月15日星期日
College football recruiting is a season that never ends
As the popularity of college football has soared over the last dozen years, feeding the legions of loyal fans new and innovative information about their teams has spawned a beast today whose thirst almost seems unquenchable.
What started in the 1990s with magazines and 1-900 call-in numbers has become a powerful, expansive, fast-paced and still-growing outlet to follow the molding and shaping of the more than 100 NCAA Division I programs nationwide.
Major college football recruiting is riding a popularity wave the likes of which has never been seen.
Served up a perfect medium when the Internet became a thread of daily life, the demand for major college football recruiting information has steadily increased on almost a yearly basis for the last decade.
"Recruiting databases built in the late 1990s on the Internet created a product that was easily accessible and cheap, bringing an interesting product to a much broader base."
Cheap, accessible and providing new information ... what more could a modern-day passionate college football fan want?
The vehicle was the Internet. And like the famous line from the movie "Field of Dreams" asserted, "If you build it, they will come."
After the collision between the recruiting of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) players and the web, the aftershocks of the initial explosion are still being felt today.
The consumer is driving the market. And serious college football fans are purchasing Smartphone apps, clicking for online subscriptions and trolling a variety of websites for inside information at a rate some might find alarming.
"In my opinion, the key is to give fans what they want," said JC Shurburtt, the national recruiting director for 247Sports, the new kid on the block. "I think we make a mistake industrywide. We are too ego-driven by breaking news or scooping the other guy.
"While it’s always important to compete, and if you aren’t competitive you will fail quickly doing this stuff, it’s paramount in today’s climate to focus on your readers and fans."
And whether it’s alarming or not, the demand for unique and fresh information clearly exists.
"I think the key is the same as any market: Deliver a consistent, well-respected, timely and interesting product," Kennedy said. "And keep getting better. More features, more interaction, etc."
It all started in the early stages of the 2000s with Scout and Rivals — a pair of outlets already dabbling in the business of major college football recruiting before the Internet boom.
Once this duo went virtual, the sky has been the limit. More outlets have emerged, more content is available, more writers have jobs, more information is available on a daily basis from recruits courtesy of social media ... more, more, more.
"I think there is a ceiling to it, but I’m just not sure where it is. I compare recruiting to two of my other early hobbies," Kennedy said. "When I was in high school watching the NFL draft in 1988, I was one of the crazy ones who taped it and watched it over and over. Now it’s a four-day event.
"In the early ‘90s, a few of us would comb boxscores from newspapers to calculate our fantasy football teams. Now everyone and his grandmother has a team. When I first started covering recruiting, I had to explain to my close friends what I did for a living because they didn’t understand. Now their wives ask me where a kid might be leaning."
What started in the 1990s with magazines and 1-900 call-in numbers has become a powerful, expansive, fast-paced and still-growing outlet to follow the molding and shaping of the more than 100 NCAA Division I programs nationwide.
Major college football recruiting is riding a popularity wave the likes of which has never been seen.
Served up a perfect medium when the Internet became a thread of daily life, the demand for major college football recruiting information has steadily increased on almost a yearly basis for the last decade.
"Recruiting databases built in the late 1990s on the Internet created a product that was easily accessible and cheap, bringing an interesting product to a much broader base."
Cheap, accessible and providing new information ... what more could a modern-day passionate college football fan want?
The vehicle was the Internet. And like the famous line from the movie "Field of Dreams" asserted, "If you build it, they will come."
After the collision between the recruiting of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) players and the web, the aftershocks of the initial explosion are still being felt today.
The consumer is driving the market. And serious college football fans are purchasing Smartphone apps, clicking for online subscriptions and trolling a variety of websites for inside information at a rate some might find alarming.
"In my opinion, the key is to give fans what they want," said JC Shurburtt, the national recruiting director for 247Sports, the new kid on the block. "I think we make a mistake industrywide. We are too ego-driven by breaking news or scooping the other guy.
"While it’s always important to compete, and if you aren’t competitive you will fail quickly doing this stuff, it’s paramount in today’s climate to focus on your readers and fans."
And whether it’s alarming or not, the demand for unique and fresh information clearly exists.
"I think the key is the same as any market: Deliver a consistent, well-respected, timely and interesting product," Kennedy said. "And keep getting better. More features, more interaction, etc."
It all started in the early stages of the 2000s with Scout and Rivals — a pair of outlets already dabbling in the business of major college football recruiting before the Internet boom.
Once this duo went virtual, the sky has been the limit. More outlets have emerged, more content is available, more writers have jobs, more information is available on a daily basis from recruits courtesy of social media ... more, more, more.
"I think there is a ceiling to it, but I’m just not sure where it is. I compare recruiting to two of my other early hobbies," Kennedy said. "When I was in high school watching the NFL draft in 1988, I was one of the crazy ones who taped it and watched it over and over. Now it’s a four-day event.
"In the early ‘90s, a few of us would comb boxscores from newspapers to calculate our fantasy football teams. Now everyone and his grandmother has a team. When I first started covering recruiting, I had to explain to my close friends what I did for a living because they didn’t understand. Now their wives ask me where a kid might be leaning."
2012年4月12日星期四
Good Art Show to sell art for Tuscaloosa’s One Place
The members of the University’s honor course, The Art of Giving Back, will host The Good Art Show on Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m., in Nott Hall. Proceeds from the show will support Tuscaloosa’s One Place, a local family resource center.
The Good Art Show will feature art from a variety of sources, said Tonya Nelson, professor of The Art of Giving Back, but most pieces will be those created by the course’s students.
“You wouldn’t believe the stuff,” Nelson said. “The show will feature bowls made out of old records, paper mache elephants, hand painted frames, handmade jewelry and textiles, paper crafts, paintings.”
Along with the art exhibits, the event will have live music and free refreshments. Admission is free for those wishing to browse, while the prices of the art are very student-friendly.
“Our lowest item is literally $1,” Nelson said. “Then they go up to $40-50 for painted canvases, and framed photography and paintings.”
The class has spent most of the semester creating the works that are going to be for sale. Theresa Mince, a senior majoring in apparel design, will display the clocks she made from old vinyl records and gift boxes created from record sleeves, along with bowls and coasters.
“My classmates and I have been working really hard all semester to make things that will appeal to a lot of different people,” Mince said. “It’s going to be really cool to see the personalities of each student show through their art.”
Nelson said although the course title is The Art of Giving Back, the class isn’t really about art.
“The class is about constructing a life beautifully — artfully even — so that you’re able to incorporate your values into how you live,” Nelson said. “This class asks students to explore what they have to offer, what they have to contribute, what they can create in an event that’s bigger than any single person’s effort.”
Last semester, the Good Art Show raised $1,100 for Tuscaloosa’s One Place.
“The proceeds from the show are really a very small part of the money required to operate a family resource center like TOP,” Nelson said. “But it’s a crucial step in developing and acting on the instinct to make a difference.”
Mince said she was impressed when she learned about the work Tuscaloosa’s One Place does for families in Tuscaloosa and is excited that her work will be able to help the organization.
“They have programs set up for every family member, and I genuinely believe they are making a difference in the community,” Mince said. “It’s exciting to think that 100 percent of the profits from the things I made will go to helping them further their goals.”
The Good Art Show will feature art from a variety of sources, said Tonya Nelson, professor of The Art of Giving Back, but most pieces will be those created by the course’s students.
“You wouldn’t believe the stuff,” Nelson said. “The show will feature bowls made out of old records, paper mache elephants, hand painted frames, handmade jewelry and textiles, paper crafts, paintings.”
Along with the art exhibits, the event will have live music and free refreshments. Admission is free for those wishing to browse, while the prices of the art are very student-friendly.
“Our lowest item is literally $1,” Nelson said. “Then they go up to $40-50 for painted canvases, and framed photography and paintings.”
The class has spent most of the semester creating the works that are going to be for sale. Theresa Mince, a senior majoring in apparel design, will display the clocks she made from old vinyl records and gift boxes created from record sleeves, along with bowls and coasters.
“My classmates and I have been working really hard all semester to make things that will appeal to a lot of different people,” Mince said. “It’s going to be really cool to see the personalities of each student show through their art.”
Nelson said although the course title is The Art of Giving Back, the class isn’t really about art.
“The class is about constructing a life beautifully — artfully even — so that you’re able to incorporate your values into how you live,” Nelson said. “This class asks students to explore what they have to offer, what they have to contribute, what they can create in an event that’s bigger than any single person’s effort.”
Last semester, the Good Art Show raised $1,100 for Tuscaloosa’s One Place.
“The proceeds from the show are really a very small part of the money required to operate a family resource center like TOP,” Nelson said. “But it’s a crucial step in developing and acting on the instinct to make a difference.”
Mince said she was impressed when she learned about the work Tuscaloosa’s One Place does for families in Tuscaloosa and is excited that her work will be able to help the organization.
“They have programs set up for every family member, and I genuinely believe they are making a difference in the community,” Mince said. “It’s exciting to think that 100 percent of the profits from the things I made will go to helping them further their goals.”
2012年4月11日星期三
Kaminski sells Chinese art collection
The outstanding art collection of Wen Tsan Yu with works by many famous Chinese artists, the most notable Qi Baishi sold for over $2.6 million dollars at Kaminski Auctions on March 30-31.
Other artists in the collection, included Puru and Pu Jin. Most paintings included a dedication by the artist to “Yu San,” Wen Tsan Yu and the collector’s personal seal. Also in this sale, was his collection of exquisitely painted fans, the most important being a 20th century fan of paper leaf and featuring painting by Wang Yun on reverse with calligraphy by Zhu Nuzhen.
“Yu's collection is one of the rare collections by a Chinese scholar to come to auction. This collection of art and antiques is among the best I've ever seen,” said Ben Wang, Asian specialist.
Five 20th century Chinese paintings by Qi Bashi sold at Kaminski’s March Fine Asian Art and Antique Sale for a record $2.3 million dollars to break all records for the artist. All five paintings were 20th century scroll paintings of ink and color on paper, signed and sealed Qi Bashi and dedicated by the artist to "Yu San," Wen Tsan Yu with the collector's personal seal.
Wen Tsan Yu was raised in China and later became a professor at Peking University. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1916 with a Ph.B, and from Harvard University in 1919 with a LL.B. The family's maternal great grandfather was Moy Toy Ni, who came to the United States in the late 1800s and settled in Milwaukee. He was widely known as “Chinese Rockefeller” in the early 20th century. Paintings in this collection had been in the family for over 50 years.
Chinese porcelain from the family's collection also brought top prices. A pair of Famille Verte bowls decorated with floral roundels, marked on the base in a double ring, sold for $300,000. From the Republic Period, a Famille Rose baluster form vase having a painted continuous landscape scene and a calligraphy mark on the base sold for $220,000.
The booming Chinese art market fueled bidding from all over the United States, Hong Kong and China for this rare Chinese scholar's collection.
Other artists in the collection, included Puru and Pu Jin. Most paintings included a dedication by the artist to “Yu San,” Wen Tsan Yu and the collector’s personal seal. Also in this sale, was his collection of exquisitely painted fans, the most important being a 20th century fan of paper leaf and featuring painting by Wang Yun on reverse with calligraphy by Zhu Nuzhen.
“Yu's collection is one of the rare collections by a Chinese scholar to come to auction. This collection of art and antiques is among the best I've ever seen,” said Ben Wang, Asian specialist.
Five 20th century Chinese paintings by Qi Bashi sold at Kaminski’s March Fine Asian Art and Antique Sale for a record $2.3 million dollars to break all records for the artist. All five paintings were 20th century scroll paintings of ink and color on paper, signed and sealed Qi Bashi and dedicated by the artist to "Yu San," Wen Tsan Yu with the collector's personal seal.
Wen Tsan Yu was raised in China and later became a professor at Peking University. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1916 with a Ph.B, and from Harvard University in 1919 with a LL.B. The family's maternal great grandfather was Moy Toy Ni, who came to the United States in the late 1800s and settled in Milwaukee. He was widely known as “Chinese Rockefeller” in the early 20th century. Paintings in this collection had been in the family for over 50 years.
Chinese porcelain from the family's collection also brought top prices. A pair of Famille Verte bowls decorated with floral roundels, marked on the base in a double ring, sold for $300,000. From the Republic Period, a Famille Rose baluster form vase having a painted continuous landscape scene and a calligraphy mark on the base sold for $220,000.
The booming Chinese art market fueled bidding from all over the United States, Hong Kong and China for this rare Chinese scholar's collection.
2012年4月10日星期二
Bradford Painting, Burl Bowl & Silver Lead At Cottone Auction
A wide range of quality materials ranging from Tiffany, Steuben and contemporary glass to paintings to folk art and rare Native American items attracted a large crowd for an action-packed sale at Cottone Auction on March 24.
Comprising more than 500 lots, the auction featured items from the estate of Thomas Buechner, a former director of the Brooklyn Museum and the founding director of the Corning Museum of Glass, as well as items deaccessioned from the Strong Museum, the Rochester Historical Society and items from the former collection of the Campbell-Whittlesey House Museum. Naturally, a complement of freshly picked quality merchandise from local homes was also presented.
Preview for the auction was packed in the days leading up to the sale, with a great deal of interest expressed in the paintings, many of which had come directly from local families. The list of works was impressive, including artists such as William Bradford, Thomas Buttersworth, Frederick Judd Waugh, William Aiken Walker, Ogden Pleissner, John James Audubon, Charles Sprague Pierce and Jules Joseph Lefebvre.
Other categories within the auction included an assortment of Asian materials consigned from a private collection, silver, bronzes, Native American items and advertising items.
Come sale time on Saturday morning, every one of the 250-plus seats in the spacious gallery was filled, and a good-sized crowd lined the walls of the room. Auctioneer Sam Cottone got things rolling right off the bat, and maintained a brisk and steady pace throughout the day. The sale kicked off with close to 30 lots of sterling, beginning with a Tiffany bowl with foliate decorated edge that sold above estimate at $1,150. Sterling flatware sets included a Tiffany Audubon pattern service, 54 pieces total, that opened for bidding at $3,000 and sold moments later for $6,095, a Gorham set in the Old Medici pattern at $5,060, and a Towle service that for 12 sold at $2,875.
The action heated up when a small silver spout cup by colonial Boston maker John Coney (1655/56–1722) was offered. The rare piece listed a single family provenance descending from Martin Brimmer (1697–1760), a politician and prominent businessman, member of the House of Representatives, the mayor of Boston and the first president of the Boston Museum of Art. Lineage continued through the family, with ties to Harriet Wadsworth by marriage in the early Nineteenth Century, and on down through the family to the present day.
Coney was considered one of the most important Boston silversmiths of his day, an engraver of the plates used for paper money in 1702. Coney's apprentice at the time of his death was Paul Revere's father. The classic spouted cup, fitted with an elegant handle and lid, carried an estimate of $30/50,000; it opened in the room at $30,000. A bid of $35,000 came from one of several telephone bidders, and then another at $40,000. A moment later, a phone bidder claimed the rare and important piece of colonial silver at $74,750. A similar example of the cup is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The top lot of the auction came as an untouched, original condition painting by William Bradford was offered. Consigned from a Buffalo, N.Y., family, the painting depicted several sailing vessels amid icebergs towering above a land mass. "It's untouched," said Cottone of the painting during preview. "It has the original stretcher and there has been no in-painting or restoration at all."
Measuring 18 by 30 inches, the painting attracted the interest of all of the major dealers, with at least six ready for action on the telephones. Bidding came primarily from two of the phones, with the painting opening below the $60/80,000 estimate at $50,000. Moving in $5,000 advances the whole way, the rare Bradford more than doubled expectations when it sold moments later to a telephone bidder for $166,750.
Another painting in the auction that attracted a great deal of attention had come from the Buechner estate, an oil depicting Diana, the goddess of hunt, perched on a rock with a bow in her hand and a crescent moon on her head. Cataloged as an "original condition" work, the painting by Jules Joseph Lefebvre listed a provenance of Schweitzer Gallery in New York City and was estimated at $20/40,000.
Comprising more than 500 lots, the auction featured items from the estate of Thomas Buechner, a former director of the Brooklyn Museum and the founding director of the Corning Museum of Glass, as well as items deaccessioned from the Strong Museum, the Rochester Historical Society and items from the former collection of the Campbell-Whittlesey House Museum. Naturally, a complement of freshly picked quality merchandise from local homes was also presented.
Preview for the auction was packed in the days leading up to the sale, with a great deal of interest expressed in the paintings, many of which had come directly from local families. The list of works was impressive, including artists such as William Bradford, Thomas Buttersworth, Frederick Judd Waugh, William Aiken Walker, Ogden Pleissner, John James Audubon, Charles Sprague Pierce and Jules Joseph Lefebvre.
Other categories within the auction included an assortment of Asian materials consigned from a private collection, silver, bronzes, Native American items and advertising items.
Come sale time on Saturday morning, every one of the 250-plus seats in the spacious gallery was filled, and a good-sized crowd lined the walls of the room. Auctioneer Sam Cottone got things rolling right off the bat, and maintained a brisk and steady pace throughout the day. The sale kicked off with close to 30 lots of sterling, beginning with a Tiffany bowl with foliate decorated edge that sold above estimate at $1,150. Sterling flatware sets included a Tiffany Audubon pattern service, 54 pieces total, that opened for bidding at $3,000 and sold moments later for $6,095, a Gorham set in the Old Medici pattern at $5,060, and a Towle service that for 12 sold at $2,875.
The action heated up when a small silver spout cup by colonial Boston maker John Coney (1655/56–1722) was offered. The rare piece listed a single family provenance descending from Martin Brimmer (1697–1760), a politician and prominent businessman, member of the House of Representatives, the mayor of Boston and the first president of the Boston Museum of Art. Lineage continued through the family, with ties to Harriet Wadsworth by marriage in the early Nineteenth Century, and on down through the family to the present day.
Coney was considered one of the most important Boston silversmiths of his day, an engraver of the plates used for paper money in 1702. Coney's apprentice at the time of his death was Paul Revere's father. The classic spouted cup, fitted with an elegant handle and lid, carried an estimate of $30/50,000; it opened in the room at $30,000. A bid of $35,000 came from one of several telephone bidders, and then another at $40,000. A moment later, a phone bidder claimed the rare and important piece of colonial silver at $74,750. A similar example of the cup is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The top lot of the auction came as an untouched, original condition painting by William Bradford was offered. Consigned from a Buffalo, N.Y., family, the painting depicted several sailing vessels amid icebergs towering above a land mass. "It's untouched," said Cottone of the painting during preview. "It has the original stretcher and there has been no in-painting or restoration at all."
Measuring 18 by 30 inches, the painting attracted the interest of all of the major dealers, with at least six ready for action on the telephones. Bidding came primarily from two of the phones, with the painting opening below the $60/80,000 estimate at $50,000. Moving in $5,000 advances the whole way, the rare Bradford more than doubled expectations when it sold moments later to a telephone bidder for $166,750.
Another painting in the auction that attracted a great deal of attention had come from the Buechner estate, an oil depicting Diana, the goddess of hunt, perched on a rock with a bow in her hand and a crescent moon on her head. Cataloged as an "original condition" work, the painting by Jules Joseph Lefebvre listed a provenance of Schweitzer Gallery in New York City and was estimated at $20/40,000.
2012年4月9日星期一
Artists for Humanity teens get ready to 'Bee' party hosts
The music is pumping in the background of a 5,000-square-foot art studio on a Thursday afternoon. Easels are lined across the floor. Small tables are covered in dried-up, splattered paint. Beams of sunlight capture the colors of canvas paintings and penetrate the room with warm air.
Unaffected by the clutter, young artists are scattered in their workspaces. They are drawn together by the vision of Susan Rodgerson, founder and director of Artists for Humanity, who has designated the theme of the 7th annual 'Greatest Party on Earth' event, which celebrates the earth and the creativity of young artists, as “Vanishing Bees.”
“We use this day to highlight environmental issues, and bees are a critical part of human life. There has been a problem with them dying in massive amounts,” said Rodgerson, adding that the theme was inspired by the documentary film, "Vanishing of the Bees."
The teen artists are expressing their interpretations of the bee theme through work that will be showcased and sold April 28 at the Artists For Humanity (AFH) EpiCenter, in the Fort Point art district. AFH’s central program, the Youth Arts Enterprise, is a paid apprenticeship and leadership program employing urban teens. Youths are partnered in small groups with professional artists, designers and young mentors to create, market and sell fine art and design services.
For the upcoming event, AFH "looks for diverse and abstract artwork, rather than literal pictures of bees and flowers,” said Maggi Brown, an AFH painting studio mentor.
Kelvin Nova (pictured above), a sophomore at Madison Park High School in Boston, conveys messages with meaning in a skilled graffiti-style form.
Traditional methods for graffiti have involved the use of spray paint, but Nova has infused his piece with a hip-hop flavor and lots of details, including eye-popping 3-D lettering that spells out the word “SAVE” in paint. A bee is strategically placed in the middle of the word.
The letter “V” is carved out as a red ribbon, representing the need to raise awareness. He has accented the piece with honeycombs and flowers that are bursting at the bottom of the canvas.
Nova is one of dozens of teens who have become paid apprentices for the organization by demonstrating a commitment to their craft. “I practice a lot. That’s how I’ve continued to improve and get better and better,” Nova said.
Rodgerson assesses the market value of each piece, which will carry price tags ranging from $100 for a small painting, to $4,000 for a large canvas piece. More than 100 pieces of artwork will be offered for sale.
“The kids volunteer to have their work sold," said Debbie First, AFH's communications consultant. If their work is purchased, 50 percent of the profit goes to the teen artist, and the other half goes into the AFH program.
Jameel Radcliffe, an AFH apprentice and a senior at West Roxbury High School, is working on an abstract piece that has bees disappearing into a blue sky, with elements of surrealism.
“Music motivates me," he explained. "I want people to realize that bees are disappearing and that we should have respect for them and have a deep appreciation for their existence."
For 'The Greatest Party On Earth' event, caterers from some top Boston restaurants donate food. This year, the food will match the theme: “The caterers are using everything from honeycombs to bee pollen to honey drizzles,” said Alexis Naylor, events manager for AFH. Live entertainment will include aerial performances and two bands. All money raised through ticket sales goes into the program.
Unaffected by the clutter, young artists are scattered in their workspaces. They are drawn together by the vision of Susan Rodgerson, founder and director of Artists for Humanity, who has designated the theme of the 7th annual 'Greatest Party on Earth' event, which celebrates the earth and the creativity of young artists, as “Vanishing Bees.”
“We use this day to highlight environmental issues, and bees are a critical part of human life. There has been a problem with them dying in massive amounts,” said Rodgerson, adding that the theme was inspired by the documentary film, "Vanishing of the Bees."
The teen artists are expressing their interpretations of the bee theme through work that will be showcased and sold April 28 at the Artists For Humanity (AFH) EpiCenter, in the Fort Point art district. AFH’s central program, the Youth Arts Enterprise, is a paid apprenticeship and leadership program employing urban teens. Youths are partnered in small groups with professional artists, designers and young mentors to create, market and sell fine art and design services.
For the upcoming event, AFH "looks for diverse and abstract artwork, rather than literal pictures of bees and flowers,” said Maggi Brown, an AFH painting studio mentor.
Kelvin Nova (pictured above), a sophomore at Madison Park High School in Boston, conveys messages with meaning in a skilled graffiti-style form.
Traditional methods for graffiti have involved the use of spray paint, but Nova has infused his piece with a hip-hop flavor and lots of details, including eye-popping 3-D lettering that spells out the word “SAVE” in paint. A bee is strategically placed in the middle of the word.
The letter “V” is carved out as a red ribbon, representing the need to raise awareness. He has accented the piece with honeycombs and flowers that are bursting at the bottom of the canvas.
Nova is one of dozens of teens who have become paid apprentices for the organization by demonstrating a commitment to their craft. “I practice a lot. That’s how I’ve continued to improve and get better and better,” Nova said.
Rodgerson assesses the market value of each piece, which will carry price tags ranging from $100 for a small painting, to $4,000 for a large canvas piece. More than 100 pieces of artwork will be offered for sale.
“The kids volunteer to have their work sold," said Debbie First, AFH's communications consultant. If their work is purchased, 50 percent of the profit goes to the teen artist, and the other half goes into the AFH program.
Jameel Radcliffe, an AFH apprentice and a senior at West Roxbury High School, is working on an abstract piece that has bees disappearing into a blue sky, with elements of surrealism.
“Music motivates me," he explained. "I want people to realize that bees are disappearing and that we should have respect for them and have a deep appreciation for their existence."
For 'The Greatest Party On Earth' event, caterers from some top Boston restaurants donate food. This year, the food will match the theme: “The caterers are using everything from honeycombs to bee pollen to honey drizzles,” said Alexis Naylor, events manager for AFH. Live entertainment will include aerial performances and two bands. All money raised through ticket sales goes into the program.
2012年4月8日星期日
Lewy’s will give part of art profits to children’s charity
The scene grabbed hold of him, and he had to paint it.
It’s as simple as that.
And it’s really the foundation of Bryan Federico’s artistic career. Well, technically, it’s a part-time career. His profession and full-time job is as a physical therapist.
This is how Danny Lewy learned of Federico’s artwork. Lewy is owner and operator of Lewy Physical Therapy in both Baton Rouge and Denham Springs. Twice a year, he pushes all equipment aside to transform his Baton Rouge facility into an art gallery.
“We do this once in the fall, and once in the spring,” he said. “We started it two years ago.”
It’s simply called the Lewy Physical Therapy Art Show, and the next one will be Thursday, April 12. Work by 15 artists will be featured, most of which will be for sale.
A portion of the sale proceeds benefits a chosen charity. Previous shows have benefited the Never Quit Never Forget foundation for military veterans. This show will benefit the Dreams Come True foundation for children with life threatening diseases.
The event also will include live and silent auctions.
The story behind the show’s beginning is simple enough. Lewy’s wife Shannon was buying art from an artist who told her he was looking for a place to show his work.
“We thought, ‘Let’s try a show here,’” Lewy said.
The idea proved a success as some $10,000 worth of artwork was sold in the first show. So, Lewy scheduled another.
“And it grew,” he said.
Artists in this show include Carol Arabie, Ted Mayeux, Danni Shobe, Adrianna Speer, Maria Boudreaux, Laurie Williamson, Cindy Rome, Keith “The Cartoonman” Douglas, Daniel Strickland and Jack Joubert, among others.
Federico also will be there, as he has been in every Lewy show. He’ll have 10 paintings in the show, including the New Orleans jazz-themed “Papa John Joseph’s Preservation Hall” he had with him on this particular day.
The painting is large, the character of Papa John Joseph is mesmerizing. This makes it that much more difficult to believe that Federico has never had any type of formal art training.
It’s his passion. He sees a scene, and he has to paint it. It was that way when he was living in Asheville, N.C., and it’s the same now that he’s back home in New Orleans, where he lives with his wife and children and works as a physical therapist.
And it was a friend who alerted Lewy about the artwork by this fellow physical therapist. Lewy liked the artwork and invited Federico to be in the show.
Federico had dabbled in art as a kid, but he realized in high school that girls liked athletes better than artists, so he gave up art for baseball. He decided to again try his hand at art after finishing physical therapy school.
“That’s when I was living in Asheville,” he said. “It was an artist’s community, and I wanted to do it. I painted my passion, and I didn’t worry about what other people thought.”
And he’s still not worried.
This could be the same story for Jack Jaubert. He never worried what other people thought about his painting while playing LSU football. It’s something he loved, a passion within him. Jaubert played center for LSU from 1968 to 1971. Bert Jones was one of the quarterbacks for whom he snapped the ball.
And Jaubert is still affiliated with the LSU Athletic Department in his own way, painting the portraits of every LSU football player who has received All America honors. The portraits hang in the athletic department.
The athletic department also has commissioned other paintings, and Jaubert has been hired to paint murals for the New Orleans Police Department and the U.S. Naval Medical Center in Pensacola, Fla. He also was commissioned to create a painting for the Louisiana National Guard which now hangs at Camp Beauregard in Pineville.
Jaubert has been involved in so many projects, too many to mention in one sitting. He works primarily on commission mostly as a portraitist.
He’ll be showing some original works at the Lewy show, but none will be for sale.
“It’ll just be things for people to see,” he said. “People in Baton Rouge are interested in LSU and LSU art. This will be something they like.”
Viewers are sure to like Carol Arabie’s work, too. She brought her painting of New Orleans’ St. Louis Cathedral with her on this day. The painting looks at the cathedral from Chartres Street, gazing back toward the city. It’s an unusual angle; many artists either paint the cathedral from the front or from an angle looking into the French Quarter.
“I was sitting on the balcony at Muriel’s restaurant, and I saw the steeples in the sky,” Arabie said. “I knew I had to paint them.”
Arabie calls herself a “forever student.” She is an artist and instructor who has degrees in English and art education. She earned her art degree after teaching English on the high school level.
“Now I teach art on my own,” Arabie said.
As for her own painting, Arabie likes to explore different genres and techniques.
“I convey my impressions from my various impressions of life,” she said. “For me, it’s more about exploring the different elements of art than it is the subject matter. And I want the viewer to enjoy it.”
This show will mark Arabie’s fourth with Lewy Physical Therapy.
“Each show helps a cause, and I’m excited about this cause,” Arabie said. “This one is special because it helps children.”
And that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Helping others while experiencing a passion for art.
It’s as simple as that.
And it’s really the foundation of Bryan Federico’s artistic career. Well, technically, it’s a part-time career. His profession and full-time job is as a physical therapist.
This is how Danny Lewy learned of Federico’s artwork. Lewy is owner and operator of Lewy Physical Therapy in both Baton Rouge and Denham Springs. Twice a year, he pushes all equipment aside to transform his Baton Rouge facility into an art gallery.
“We do this once in the fall, and once in the spring,” he said. “We started it two years ago.”
It’s simply called the Lewy Physical Therapy Art Show, and the next one will be Thursday, April 12. Work by 15 artists will be featured, most of which will be for sale.
A portion of the sale proceeds benefits a chosen charity. Previous shows have benefited the Never Quit Never Forget foundation for military veterans. This show will benefit the Dreams Come True foundation for children with life threatening diseases.
The event also will include live and silent auctions.
The story behind the show’s beginning is simple enough. Lewy’s wife Shannon was buying art from an artist who told her he was looking for a place to show his work.
“We thought, ‘Let’s try a show here,’” Lewy said.
The idea proved a success as some $10,000 worth of artwork was sold in the first show. So, Lewy scheduled another.
“And it grew,” he said.
Artists in this show include Carol Arabie, Ted Mayeux, Danni Shobe, Adrianna Speer, Maria Boudreaux, Laurie Williamson, Cindy Rome, Keith “The Cartoonman” Douglas, Daniel Strickland and Jack Joubert, among others.
Federico also will be there, as he has been in every Lewy show. He’ll have 10 paintings in the show, including the New Orleans jazz-themed “Papa John Joseph’s Preservation Hall” he had with him on this particular day.
The painting is large, the character of Papa John Joseph is mesmerizing. This makes it that much more difficult to believe that Federico has never had any type of formal art training.
It’s his passion. He sees a scene, and he has to paint it. It was that way when he was living in Asheville, N.C., and it’s the same now that he’s back home in New Orleans, where he lives with his wife and children and works as a physical therapist.
And it was a friend who alerted Lewy about the artwork by this fellow physical therapist. Lewy liked the artwork and invited Federico to be in the show.
Federico had dabbled in art as a kid, but he realized in high school that girls liked athletes better than artists, so he gave up art for baseball. He decided to again try his hand at art after finishing physical therapy school.
“That’s when I was living in Asheville,” he said. “It was an artist’s community, and I wanted to do it. I painted my passion, and I didn’t worry about what other people thought.”
And he’s still not worried.
This could be the same story for Jack Jaubert. He never worried what other people thought about his painting while playing LSU football. It’s something he loved, a passion within him. Jaubert played center for LSU from 1968 to 1971. Bert Jones was one of the quarterbacks for whom he snapped the ball.
And Jaubert is still affiliated with the LSU Athletic Department in his own way, painting the portraits of every LSU football player who has received All America honors. The portraits hang in the athletic department.
The athletic department also has commissioned other paintings, and Jaubert has been hired to paint murals for the New Orleans Police Department and the U.S. Naval Medical Center in Pensacola, Fla. He also was commissioned to create a painting for the Louisiana National Guard which now hangs at Camp Beauregard in Pineville.
Jaubert has been involved in so many projects, too many to mention in one sitting. He works primarily on commission mostly as a portraitist.
He’ll be showing some original works at the Lewy show, but none will be for sale.
“It’ll just be things for people to see,” he said. “People in Baton Rouge are interested in LSU and LSU art. This will be something they like.”
Viewers are sure to like Carol Arabie’s work, too. She brought her painting of New Orleans’ St. Louis Cathedral with her on this day. The painting looks at the cathedral from Chartres Street, gazing back toward the city. It’s an unusual angle; many artists either paint the cathedral from the front or from an angle looking into the French Quarter.
“I was sitting on the balcony at Muriel’s restaurant, and I saw the steeples in the sky,” Arabie said. “I knew I had to paint them.”
Arabie calls herself a “forever student.” She is an artist and instructor who has degrees in English and art education. She earned her art degree after teaching English on the high school level.
“Now I teach art on my own,” Arabie said.
As for her own painting, Arabie likes to explore different genres and techniques.
“I convey my impressions from my various impressions of life,” she said. “For me, it’s more about exploring the different elements of art than it is the subject matter. And I want the viewer to enjoy it.”
This show will mark Arabie’s fourth with Lewy Physical Therapy.
“Each show helps a cause, and I’m excited about this cause,” Arabie said. “This one is special because it helps children.”
And that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Helping others while experiencing a passion for art.
2012年4月5日星期四
Record-breaking bowl shines at Sotheby's Asia sales
The five days of sales of wine, jewellery, Asian and Chinese art, ceramics and watches raised nearly HK$2.5 billion ($316 million) overall, above estimates but paling against previous sales on tempered demand for certain lots as collectors became more selective.
The sales are a closely watched biannual barometer of emerging market demand in China and Asia for some of the world's most expensive artwork and luxury goods, with voracious Chinese buying turning Hong Kong into a global auction hub.
While the total take outstripped pre-sale forecasts of some HK$1.9 billion, and with 87.9 percent of more than 3,000 lots sold, it fell short of tallies for biannual sales last year as auctioneers increasingly lean toward the top-tier lots at the cost of lesser works amid challenging economic conditions.
One of the highlights came on Wednesday with the sale of the flower-shaped Northern Song ceramic, a pale colored bowl that went for HK$207.86 million ($26.65 million) after a 15 minute bidding war, triple its pre-sale estimate and setting the auction record for Song ceramics.
The previous record holder was a vase that went for HK$67.5 million ($8.6 million) four years ago.
Auctioneers said the shallow bowl, also known as a washer, was made exclusively for a Chinese emperor who could have used it to wash his calligraphy brushes.
"This kiln was in production for only 20, 30 years and made the most refined wares ever produced," said Nicholas Chow, Sotheby's Asia Deputy Chairman and International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art.
"It's very understated, it's very simple aesthetic ... reflects ideas of humility, modesty that were prevalent at the time with neo-Confucianism."
But results were harsher for broader Chinese ceramics and works of art, which sold only 52.5 percent of its lots.
Even noted collections suffered. The third sale of the Meiyintang Collection, a respected assemblage of Chinese porcelain collected over nearly half a century by Swiss tycoons, saw a quarter of its lots unsold.
Increasingly selective collectors of contemporary artworks vied for the feted masterpieces while a string of recent works by younger artists struggled for the spotlight.
This yielded lukewarm results for 20th Century and Contemporary Asian art sales, which saw 9.3 percent and 25 percent of lots unsold.
Demand for Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings was also muted with 20 percent of the lots remaining at a half-full auction room.
Prominent artists fared relatively well.
Zhang Xiaogang's 43.25 inch tall oil on canvas, "Bloodline - Big Family: Family No 2", featuring his signature tinted faces and portraiture reminiscent of family photos from the Cultural Revolution, scooped the record price of HK$52.18 million for the various-owner Contemporary Asian Art sale.
But a later work in his Bloodline series auctioned at below estimates.
"Buyers are becoming more rational, and the market is becoming more selective, with a focus on top quality work," said Evelyn Lin, Sotheby's Head of Contemporary Asian Art.
Appetite for classical artworks remained relatively firm as fine Chinese paintings scooped more than double the pre-sales estimate at some HK$468 million, selling 92.7 percent of lots.
Sotheby's said that, at its jewellery sale, an 8.01 carat emerald-cut blue diamond and diamond ring fetching HK$99.22 million was the second highest price per carat for a blue diamond at auction.
The sales are a closely watched biannual barometer of emerging market demand in China and Asia for some of the world's most expensive artwork and luxury goods, with voracious Chinese buying turning Hong Kong into a global auction hub.
While the total take outstripped pre-sale forecasts of some HK$1.9 billion, and with 87.9 percent of more than 3,000 lots sold, it fell short of tallies for biannual sales last year as auctioneers increasingly lean toward the top-tier lots at the cost of lesser works amid challenging economic conditions.
One of the highlights came on Wednesday with the sale of the flower-shaped Northern Song ceramic, a pale colored bowl that went for HK$207.86 million ($26.65 million) after a 15 minute bidding war, triple its pre-sale estimate and setting the auction record for Song ceramics.
The previous record holder was a vase that went for HK$67.5 million ($8.6 million) four years ago.
Auctioneers said the shallow bowl, also known as a washer, was made exclusively for a Chinese emperor who could have used it to wash his calligraphy brushes.
"This kiln was in production for only 20, 30 years and made the most refined wares ever produced," said Nicholas Chow, Sotheby's Asia Deputy Chairman and International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art.
"It's very understated, it's very simple aesthetic ... reflects ideas of humility, modesty that were prevalent at the time with neo-Confucianism."
But results were harsher for broader Chinese ceramics and works of art, which sold only 52.5 percent of its lots.
Even noted collections suffered. The third sale of the Meiyintang Collection, a respected assemblage of Chinese porcelain collected over nearly half a century by Swiss tycoons, saw a quarter of its lots unsold.
Increasingly selective collectors of contemporary artworks vied for the feted masterpieces while a string of recent works by younger artists struggled for the spotlight.
This yielded lukewarm results for 20th Century and Contemporary Asian art sales, which saw 9.3 percent and 25 percent of lots unsold.
Demand for Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings was also muted with 20 percent of the lots remaining at a half-full auction room.
Prominent artists fared relatively well.
Zhang Xiaogang's 43.25 inch tall oil on canvas, "Bloodline - Big Family: Family No 2", featuring his signature tinted faces and portraiture reminiscent of family photos from the Cultural Revolution, scooped the record price of HK$52.18 million for the various-owner Contemporary Asian Art sale.
But a later work in his Bloodline series auctioned at below estimates.
"Buyers are becoming more rational, and the market is becoming more selective, with a focus on top quality work," said Evelyn Lin, Sotheby's Head of Contemporary Asian Art.
Appetite for classical artworks remained relatively firm as fine Chinese paintings scooped more than double the pre-sales estimate at some HK$468 million, selling 92.7 percent of lots.
Sotheby's said that, at its jewellery sale, an 8.01 carat emerald-cut blue diamond and diamond ring fetching HK$99.22 million was the second highest price per carat for a blue diamond at auction.
2012年4月4日星期三
Francis Bacon painting, Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror, in Sotheby's sale
A powerful and important Francis Bacon painting showing a contemplative figure writing, which has remained in the same private collection since it was bought in 1977, is to be sold at auction in May.
"It is a very, very serious painting that we've chased for years," Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's worldwide head of contemporary art, told the Guardian ahead of the sale announcement.
The auction house believes Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror is as important as two works by Bacon which set auction records for post-war art in 2007 and 2008. First Study from Innocent X briefly held the record when it sold for $52.6m but was later pipped by a Mark Rothko. Triptych 1976 now holds the record after Roman Abramovich bought it for $86.3m, an astonishing sum that had jaws dropping – not least because it was a time when many were predicting an end to crazy auction prices.
Both the triptych and the new-to-market Bacon were part of a small and now famous 1977 show of his work at the Galerie Claude Bernard in Paris.
Meyer recalled seeing the Bacon up close. "It was quite something," he said. "But great Bacons do that you, hit you over the head a little bit and the body of work that was shown in 1977 does that with great vigour and energy.
"Apart from being important paintings and very convincing, they are also incredibly beautiful because it is probably Bacon at the height of his skills as a painter."
Another painting in the show included Three Figures and Portrait, now owned by Tate and on display in Liverpool.
Figure Writing Reflected in a Mirror shows a male figure in white underwear who bears a distinct resemblance to the artist's lover George Dyer, who, with breathtaking timing, killed himself on the eve of Bacon's important retrospective at the Grand Palais, Paris, in October 1971. The black sweep of hair resembles Bacon, so it can be interpreted as representing both artist and lover.
Dublin-born Bacon was hugely inspired by literature, whether the Oresteia or TS Eliot, and the figure writing, with crumpled paper on the floor, would seem to be a direct manifestation of the artist's obsession with the written word. No other Bacon canvas has someone writing.
The painting remains something of a mystery, as it is difficult to fathom exactly what was going on in Bacon's mind. Unlike other works there are no classical references. "There are no birds swooping down to eat the liver of Prometheus," said Meyer.
Sotheby's has estimated the painting at $30m-$40m (up to 25m) and Meyer said it might be easier to sell because it is a single panel and not as violent as the Triptych.
Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror was clearly considered a star at the 1977 exhibition because it was used as the catalogue cover and the anonymous collector who bought it had been given first choice of the works by Claude Bernard.
Bacon who died in 1992, aged 82, was one of the greatest and most influential 20th century artists. The critic Robert Hughes, writing in the Guardian in 2008, described him as "England's most celebrated recently dead painter. He is probably the best-known one, and possibly the most popular, since JMW Turner." His distorted paintings of tormented figures were not to everyone's tastes. Margaret Thatcher once called him "that awful artist who paints those horrible pictures."
"It is a very, very serious painting that we've chased for years," Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's worldwide head of contemporary art, told the Guardian ahead of the sale announcement.
The auction house believes Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror is as important as two works by Bacon which set auction records for post-war art in 2007 and 2008. First Study from Innocent X briefly held the record when it sold for $52.6m but was later pipped by a Mark Rothko. Triptych 1976 now holds the record after Roman Abramovich bought it for $86.3m, an astonishing sum that had jaws dropping – not least because it was a time when many were predicting an end to crazy auction prices.
Both the triptych and the new-to-market Bacon were part of a small and now famous 1977 show of his work at the Galerie Claude Bernard in Paris.
Meyer recalled seeing the Bacon up close. "It was quite something," he said. "But great Bacons do that you, hit you over the head a little bit and the body of work that was shown in 1977 does that with great vigour and energy.
"Apart from being important paintings and very convincing, they are also incredibly beautiful because it is probably Bacon at the height of his skills as a painter."
Another painting in the show included Three Figures and Portrait, now owned by Tate and on display in Liverpool.
Figure Writing Reflected in a Mirror shows a male figure in white underwear who bears a distinct resemblance to the artist's lover George Dyer, who, with breathtaking timing, killed himself on the eve of Bacon's important retrospective at the Grand Palais, Paris, in October 1971. The black sweep of hair resembles Bacon, so it can be interpreted as representing both artist and lover.
Dublin-born Bacon was hugely inspired by literature, whether the Oresteia or TS Eliot, and the figure writing, with crumpled paper on the floor, would seem to be a direct manifestation of the artist's obsession with the written word. No other Bacon canvas has someone writing.
The painting remains something of a mystery, as it is difficult to fathom exactly what was going on in Bacon's mind. Unlike other works there are no classical references. "There are no birds swooping down to eat the liver of Prometheus," said Meyer.
Sotheby's has estimated the painting at $30m-$40m (up to 25m) and Meyer said it might be easier to sell because it is a single panel and not as violent as the Triptych.
Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror was clearly considered a star at the 1977 exhibition because it was used as the catalogue cover and the anonymous collector who bought it had been given first choice of the works by Claude Bernard.
Bacon who died in 1992, aged 82, was one of the greatest and most influential 20th century artists. The critic Robert Hughes, writing in the Guardian in 2008, described him as "England's most celebrated recently dead painter. He is probably the best-known one, and possibly the most popular, since JMW Turner." His distorted paintings of tormented figures were not to everyone's tastes. Margaret Thatcher once called him "that awful artist who paints those horrible pictures."
2012年3月31日星期六
VHP features Haitian art for annual fundraising event
While the Vassar Haiti Project (VHP) went to Chermaitre for ten days over Spring Break, they did more than check up on their education and medical initiatives and visit with locals in the village. They also accumulated a vibrant collection of Haitian art, which was on view and on sale in the College Center MPR this Friday through Sunday.
“This is our main event, our main source of fundraising,” said Director of International Services and Founder of Vassar Haiti Project Andrew Meade. The money made from the sale will support the cost of operating the initiatives that VHP has already put in place. “It will be sent to help support the lunch program, pay the teacher’s salaries, and buy supplies; just make sure everything continues smoothly throughout the year,” Meade continued. Any additional money made will go into new programs in Haiti.
The Haitian Art Sale will be open Friday, March 30 from noon-8pm, Saturday from 10-4, and Sunday from 10-2. On Saturday the auction will be held from 4-6, with registration beginning at 2 pm.
“All of the art is made in Haiti, often Port-au-Prince, and we have some handicrafts that were made in more rural areas,” said David Bridgman-Packer ’12, who went on the Haiti trip. “We buy some of the art directly from the artists, some from art galleries, and others from art markets, which are unique to Haiti. They are these open-air markets where artists and art vendors bring their selections.”
“In Haiti, and in general in most underdeveloped countries, art is not the top priority. People don’t just go out and buy art, as they have other basic expenses,” said Alex Ciucu ’12, who also went on the trip over break. She emphasized how the art sold this weekend at Vassar will not only benefit VHP’s initiatives, but will support the livelihood of the men and women who created these pieces, allowing them to continue in the profession they love.
The artwork VHP has on display reflects much Haitian art today: the paintings depict natural, outdoor scenes and landscapes in beautiful, vibrant colors, while the metalwork uses these same colors in eye-catching designs and motifs. Everything normally on the walls of the CCMPR will be taken off, and one wall covered entirely in paintings for sale. Said Ciucu,“The tables will be covered in handicrafts like papier-mché and metalwork. We also have larger metalwork pieces for sale, as well as … silk scarves and jewelry, beads.”
VHP has already paid all of the artists and sellers for the works; any profits they make will go into the initiatives. The project currently has four initiatives in place in Haiti: “The main one is education,” said Bridgman-Packer. Since 2002, the group has been funding the lunch program and teacher salaries at Chermaitre’s primary school. “We also have a water initiative, in which we built a spring cistern that brings water to the school and village; a reforestation initiative, as we have planted several thousand trees; and a medical initiative, working to build a health clinic staffed by Haitian doctors,” Bridgman-Packer continued.
To best support the Vassar Haiti Project, the members hope that the students, parents, and members of the community who visit the sale will purchase a painting or handicraft. “Art is something that represents Haiti in a way that most people don’t see in the newspapers,” said Ciucu.
As trip member Charlotte Ong ’14 noted, the 10 days spent in Haiti helps the members of VHP see how their initiatives are working and what needs improvement. “We met with the village leaders, and had a focus group with the women and girls of the village, and had more meetings to assess the progress and needs of the initiatives. This will help us in directing what we do for the rest of the year,” Ong said.
As the members of VHP emphasized, the art show depicts the real Haiti, and not what is painted of the country by Western media. Said Andrew Meade, “Haitian art really speaks to the spirit and resilience of the Haitian people. Despite all of the stuff that people see on TV, or whatever happens to the country in terms of natural disasters, and man-made troubles like political or racial strife, art has just continued to show the true elements of Haiti.”
“This is our main event, our main source of fundraising,” said Director of International Services and Founder of Vassar Haiti Project Andrew Meade. The money made from the sale will support the cost of operating the initiatives that VHP has already put in place. “It will be sent to help support the lunch program, pay the teacher’s salaries, and buy supplies; just make sure everything continues smoothly throughout the year,” Meade continued. Any additional money made will go into new programs in Haiti.
The Haitian Art Sale will be open Friday, March 30 from noon-8pm, Saturday from 10-4, and Sunday from 10-2. On Saturday the auction will be held from 4-6, with registration beginning at 2 pm.
“All of the art is made in Haiti, often Port-au-Prince, and we have some handicrafts that were made in more rural areas,” said David Bridgman-Packer ’12, who went on the Haiti trip. “We buy some of the art directly from the artists, some from art galleries, and others from art markets, which are unique to Haiti. They are these open-air markets where artists and art vendors bring their selections.”
“In Haiti, and in general in most underdeveloped countries, art is not the top priority. People don’t just go out and buy art, as they have other basic expenses,” said Alex Ciucu ’12, who also went on the trip over break. She emphasized how the art sold this weekend at Vassar will not only benefit VHP’s initiatives, but will support the livelihood of the men and women who created these pieces, allowing them to continue in the profession they love.
The artwork VHP has on display reflects much Haitian art today: the paintings depict natural, outdoor scenes and landscapes in beautiful, vibrant colors, while the metalwork uses these same colors in eye-catching designs and motifs. Everything normally on the walls of the CCMPR will be taken off, and one wall covered entirely in paintings for sale. Said Ciucu,“The tables will be covered in handicrafts like papier-mché and metalwork. We also have larger metalwork pieces for sale, as well as … silk scarves and jewelry, beads.”
VHP has already paid all of the artists and sellers for the works; any profits they make will go into the initiatives. The project currently has four initiatives in place in Haiti: “The main one is education,” said Bridgman-Packer. Since 2002, the group has been funding the lunch program and teacher salaries at Chermaitre’s primary school. “We also have a water initiative, in which we built a spring cistern that brings water to the school and village; a reforestation initiative, as we have planted several thousand trees; and a medical initiative, working to build a health clinic staffed by Haitian doctors,” Bridgman-Packer continued.
To best support the Vassar Haiti Project, the members hope that the students, parents, and members of the community who visit the sale will purchase a painting or handicraft. “Art is something that represents Haiti in a way that most people don’t see in the newspapers,” said Ciucu.
As trip member Charlotte Ong ’14 noted, the 10 days spent in Haiti helps the members of VHP see how their initiatives are working and what needs improvement. “We met with the village leaders, and had a focus group with the women and girls of the village, and had more meetings to assess the progress and needs of the initiatives. This will help us in directing what we do for the rest of the year,” Ong said.
As the members of VHP emphasized, the art show depicts the real Haiti, and not what is painted of the country by Western media. Said Andrew Meade, “Haitian art really speaks to the spirit and resilience of the Haitian people. Despite all of the stuff that people see on TV, or whatever happens to the country in terms of natural disasters, and man-made troubles like political or racial strife, art has just continued to show the true elements of Haiti.”
2012年3月30日星期五
Prunella Clough and the art of 'saying a small thing edgily'
The best-known fact about the painter Prunella Clough is that she kept the price of her art low. Once, when moving house, she turned the contents of her studio into a bonanza sale. "PRICES SLASHED!" announced the cards she sent out, ornamented with the clichés of the marketplace, dynamically arranged. "Seconds. Slightly damaged goods. CASH AND CARRY. No reasonable offer refused. RACKS MUST BE CLEARED. TELL YOUR FRIENDS." For six days, people came and went, while she operated a cheap goods stall. For a prolific artist, it was a pragmatic way of reducing the contents of her studio. But it was also a sly dig at the commodification of art. Some of her friends found it embarrassing to see drawings, collages and paintings fast disappearing, at prices that bore no relation to their worth.
There have been various attempts by artists to challenge or subvert the art market. But earlier this year, when a version of Cézanne's Card Players reached the highest price ever paid for a work of art, it was Clough who first came to mind, and then Fernand Léger. If both have relevance in the 21st century, it is in no small part due to their belief that art can be made out of the ordinary and has a place in the everyday world. Léger wanted his mural-size canvases to be the kind of objects against which you could lean your bicycle. Clough in the early 1950s painted a series of pictures based on lorries and their drivers. She went down to London's docklands to draw cranes and pile drivers, but it was the lorries arriving and departing and the labour involved – in this pre-container age – in the loading and unloading of their cargoes that caught her attention. She closed in on the drivers in their cabs, catching moments of waiting, when the driver takes a nap or reads a newspaper, while pressing in on all sides are hints of the larger environment, a coil of rope, ladders, a factory chimney or segment of a crane.
Did Clough know of Léger's work? Almost certainly. She had a highly cultivated knowledge of art, and in the 1950s was an intimate friend of John Berger, who championed Léger. Together Clough and Berger went drawing down by the mainline marshalling yards at Willesden Junction in London. As a critic, Berger was then promoting realism, in whatever form it took, and he liked to compare Léger with Masaccio. Both, in his view, were painters of a new reality and of the new values associated with that reality.
Berger asked of Léger: "In the work of what other artist can you find cars, metal frames, templates, girders, electric wires, numberplates, road signs, gas stoves, functional furniture, bicycles, tents, keys, locks, cheap cups and saucers? Léger in fact forces us to consider a phenomenon which is so widespread that we scarcely notice it – the extraordinary degree to which most 20th-century art ignores any direct reference to the 20th-century environment. It is as though in our paintings we wish to be nowhere."
Clough, like Léger, was unusual in her attention to aspects of urban and industrial life that are mostly overlooked – if not deliberately ignored. She looked at things that bear the residue of use, are blighted by time or fallen into desuetude. Long before the term "edgelands" was coined, she was familiar with those areas where housing estates or factories peter out and the borders between urban and rural are renegotiated, infringed or forgotten.
There have been various attempts by artists to challenge or subvert the art market. But earlier this year, when a version of Cézanne's Card Players reached the highest price ever paid for a work of art, it was Clough who first came to mind, and then Fernand Léger. If both have relevance in the 21st century, it is in no small part due to their belief that art can be made out of the ordinary and has a place in the everyday world. Léger wanted his mural-size canvases to be the kind of objects against which you could lean your bicycle. Clough in the early 1950s painted a series of pictures based on lorries and their drivers. She went down to London's docklands to draw cranes and pile drivers, but it was the lorries arriving and departing and the labour involved – in this pre-container age – in the loading and unloading of their cargoes that caught her attention. She closed in on the drivers in their cabs, catching moments of waiting, when the driver takes a nap or reads a newspaper, while pressing in on all sides are hints of the larger environment, a coil of rope, ladders, a factory chimney or segment of a crane.
Did Clough know of Léger's work? Almost certainly. She had a highly cultivated knowledge of art, and in the 1950s was an intimate friend of John Berger, who championed Léger. Together Clough and Berger went drawing down by the mainline marshalling yards at Willesden Junction in London. As a critic, Berger was then promoting realism, in whatever form it took, and he liked to compare Léger with Masaccio. Both, in his view, were painters of a new reality and of the new values associated with that reality.
Berger asked of Léger: "In the work of what other artist can you find cars, metal frames, templates, girders, electric wires, numberplates, road signs, gas stoves, functional furniture, bicycles, tents, keys, locks, cheap cups and saucers? Léger in fact forces us to consider a phenomenon which is so widespread that we scarcely notice it – the extraordinary degree to which most 20th-century art ignores any direct reference to the 20th-century environment. It is as though in our paintings we wish to be nowhere."
Clough, like Léger, was unusual in her attention to aspects of urban and industrial life that are mostly overlooked – if not deliberately ignored. She looked at things that bear the residue of use, are blighted by time or fallen into desuetude. Long before the term "edgelands" was coined, she was familiar with those areas where housing estates or factories peter out and the borders between urban and rural are renegotiated, infringed or forgotten.
2012年3月29日星期四
Spring Art Auctions Boast All-Star Line-Ups
A number of standout artworks by such modern masters as Cezanne, Munch and Warhol and pioneering women artists from Tamara Lempicka to Cindy Sherman are heading to the auction block in May.
Leading the line-up at the world's two biggest auction houses is the high-profile sale of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” which will take place at Sotheby’s New York on May 2nd. The iconic artwork is expected to bring as much as $80 million.
Also to be sold at Sotheby’s that day is a “lost” work by Polish pioneering female artist, Tamara Lempicka. The painting, entitled “Nu adosse 1” or “Reclining Nude I,” vanished from public view after being shown at the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Milan back in 1925. It is estimated to go for up to $5 million. The current owner didn’t realize until recently what he had on his hands. However, he had appreciated the painting’s aesthetic so had held on to the painting, which embodies the spirit of the Art Deco, according to Sotheby’s.
The following week, Sotheby’s will auction Andy Warhol’s “Double Elvis,” at their post-war and contemporary art sale. The life-size painting, from 1963, epitomizes the Pop Art leaderl's obsession with fame, stardom and the public image, according to Sotheby's. It is estimated to go for as much as $50 million.
Sotheby’s London will be selling the late Gunter Sachs collection, which includes a number of Warhols. Among the standouts is Warhol’s portrait of French actress Bridgette Bardot, ex-wife of Gunter Sachs, as well as another silkscreen painting by that artist entitled “Flowers” from 1964-65. Both images are expected to go for between $6 and $8 million. The auction takes place on May 22 and 23.
Meanwhile, Christie’s New York will be selling a rare work by Post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne, often hailed as the “father of modernism.” This watercolor has only recently been rediscovered and is a study for Cézanne’s series of five paintings, "Joueurs des cartes” or “Card Players.” The work offered at auction belonged to Dr. Heinz F. Eichenwald, a prominent collector who died in September.
Dr. Eichenwald, a renowned expert on pediatric infectious diseases, inherited the watercolor from his parents who, according to Christie’s experts, are thought to have bought it from a Berlin gallery around 1930, shortly before they fled the Nazi occupation. Cézanne scholars have established the identity of the seated man as Paulin Paulet, who appears in all five paintings of the final series. The watercolor study will be exhibited in Geneva in April before a New York showing ahead of the May 1 sale, and is estimated to go for $20 million.
The Akron Art Museum, in a somewhat controversial move, has decided to put one of their Cindy Shermans up for sale. The 1981 photograph “Untitled #96” is estimated to go for somewhere between $2,800,000-$3,800,000, which would provide an enormous boost to the museum’s $2 million acquisitions endowment. Another copy of “Untitled #96” sold last year for nearly $4 million dollars. The photograph, depicting a young woman in orange lying on the floor clutching a personal ad, will be sold at Christie’s New York on May 8th.
Leading the line-up at the world's two biggest auction houses is the high-profile sale of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” which will take place at Sotheby’s New York on May 2nd. The iconic artwork is expected to bring as much as $80 million.
Also to be sold at Sotheby’s that day is a “lost” work by Polish pioneering female artist, Tamara Lempicka. The painting, entitled “Nu adosse 1” or “Reclining Nude I,” vanished from public view after being shown at the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Milan back in 1925. It is estimated to go for up to $5 million. The current owner didn’t realize until recently what he had on his hands. However, he had appreciated the painting’s aesthetic so had held on to the painting, which embodies the spirit of the Art Deco, according to Sotheby’s.
The following week, Sotheby’s will auction Andy Warhol’s “Double Elvis,” at their post-war and contemporary art sale. The life-size painting, from 1963, epitomizes the Pop Art leaderl's obsession with fame, stardom and the public image, according to Sotheby's. It is estimated to go for as much as $50 million.
Sotheby’s London will be selling the late Gunter Sachs collection, which includes a number of Warhols. Among the standouts is Warhol’s portrait of French actress Bridgette Bardot, ex-wife of Gunter Sachs, as well as another silkscreen painting by that artist entitled “Flowers” from 1964-65. Both images are expected to go for between $6 and $8 million. The auction takes place on May 22 and 23.
Meanwhile, Christie’s New York will be selling a rare work by Post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne, often hailed as the “father of modernism.” This watercolor has only recently been rediscovered and is a study for Cézanne’s series of five paintings, "Joueurs des cartes” or “Card Players.” The work offered at auction belonged to Dr. Heinz F. Eichenwald, a prominent collector who died in September.
Dr. Eichenwald, a renowned expert on pediatric infectious diseases, inherited the watercolor from his parents who, according to Christie’s experts, are thought to have bought it from a Berlin gallery around 1930, shortly before they fled the Nazi occupation. Cézanne scholars have established the identity of the seated man as Paulin Paulet, who appears in all five paintings of the final series. The watercolor study will be exhibited in Geneva in April before a New York showing ahead of the May 1 sale, and is estimated to go for $20 million.
The Akron Art Museum, in a somewhat controversial move, has decided to put one of their Cindy Shermans up for sale. The 1981 photograph “Untitled #96” is estimated to go for somewhere between $2,800,000-$3,800,000, which would provide an enormous boost to the museum’s $2 million acquisitions endowment. Another copy of “Untitled #96” sold last year for nearly $4 million dollars. The photograph, depicting a young woman in orange lying on the floor clutching a personal ad, will be sold at Christie’s New York on May 8th.
2012年3月28日星期三
Investing in the art market
After losing more than 50 per cent of its value during the recent economic downturn, the global art market saw a robust recovery in 2010.
In the last couple of years, the art market has been enjoying a revival as investors begin to realise the importance of art as an alternative investment to diffuse risk. Auction houses around the world are reporting record sales and investors are showing more knowledge and interest in art pieces. As part of this revival, the Middle Eastern art market has also been steadily attracting interest from collectors and investors worldwide.
"Investing in tangible assets such as gold or jewellery has always been very popular in the region. In the recent past, we witnessed a new trend that started at the beginning of the 21st century and accelerated after the 2008 financial crisis: ‘art investing'. The new concept comes from the fact that on top of being an aesthetic pleasure, art can be a financial asset. Indeed in the past 10 years, art has outperformed equity and bonds giving an average return of close to 8 per cent per annum," said Douglas Azar, investment adviser of wealth management at Liechtensteinische Landesbank.
This renewed interest comes hand in hand with a higher demand for Middle Eastern art.
"There is definitely an increased global attention in Middle Eastern art right now. I think part of that is because of what is happening politically but it's also because globally the price of Middle Eastern art is still quite undervalued when compared to other countries. The other thing is the art that comes out of our region is so different from what collectors are used to so it is exciting for them," said Minna Joseph, gallery director at Ayyam Gallery.
Estimates in a Middle Eastern art sales catalogue can begin as low as $1,500 (Dh5,508) and can range up to $20,000 for a prominent piece of work from a promising artist.
"There are people who have invested earlier on in artist communities [and] have seen the price of their work go up dramatically. There was a boom time and increase in prices particularly for Iranian art. There is also a wave of interest in artists who are from the modern school who are being reappraised," said Antonia Carver, fair director of Art Dubai.
Middle Eastern influence is being seen in major galleries across the world. The London Gallery recently did an exhibition, Unveiled, which exhibited new art from the Middle East featuring 21 new artists from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Palestine. The Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art in London's Victoria and Albert museum was also recently opened under the patronage of the Saudi royal family.
According to Michael Jeha, managing director of Christie's Middle East, as the supply of works by the great modern Arab and Iranian masters dwindles, collectors, old and new, are taking an increased interest in the rapidly growing young generation of regional artists.
Another area that is in demand is contemporary artwork from emerging markets in Asia. "China is now becoming the largest auction place in the world before New York and London. This is a major shift which will have a long lasting impact on the art market," said Azar.
In the last couple of years, the art market has been enjoying a revival as investors begin to realise the importance of art as an alternative investment to diffuse risk. Auction houses around the world are reporting record sales and investors are showing more knowledge and interest in art pieces. As part of this revival, the Middle Eastern art market has also been steadily attracting interest from collectors and investors worldwide.
"Investing in tangible assets such as gold or jewellery has always been very popular in the region. In the recent past, we witnessed a new trend that started at the beginning of the 21st century and accelerated after the 2008 financial crisis: ‘art investing'. The new concept comes from the fact that on top of being an aesthetic pleasure, art can be a financial asset. Indeed in the past 10 years, art has outperformed equity and bonds giving an average return of close to 8 per cent per annum," said Douglas Azar, investment adviser of wealth management at Liechtensteinische Landesbank.
This renewed interest comes hand in hand with a higher demand for Middle Eastern art.
"There is definitely an increased global attention in Middle Eastern art right now. I think part of that is because of what is happening politically but it's also because globally the price of Middle Eastern art is still quite undervalued when compared to other countries. The other thing is the art that comes out of our region is so different from what collectors are used to so it is exciting for them," said Minna Joseph, gallery director at Ayyam Gallery.
Estimates in a Middle Eastern art sales catalogue can begin as low as $1,500 (Dh5,508) and can range up to $20,000 for a prominent piece of work from a promising artist.
"There are people who have invested earlier on in artist communities [and] have seen the price of their work go up dramatically. There was a boom time and increase in prices particularly for Iranian art. There is also a wave of interest in artists who are from the modern school who are being reappraised," said Antonia Carver, fair director of Art Dubai.
Middle Eastern influence is being seen in major galleries across the world. The London Gallery recently did an exhibition, Unveiled, which exhibited new art from the Middle East featuring 21 new artists from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Palestine. The Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art in London's Victoria and Albert museum was also recently opened under the patronage of the Saudi royal family.
According to Michael Jeha, managing director of Christie's Middle East, as the supply of works by the great modern Arab and Iranian masters dwindles, collectors, old and new, are taking an increased interest in the rapidly growing young generation of regional artists.
Another area that is in demand is contemporary artwork from emerging markets in Asia. "China is now becoming the largest auction place in the world before New York and London. This is a major shift which will have a long lasting impact on the art market," said Azar.
2012年3月27日星期二
Strong Sales at TEFAF Silver Jubilee
TEFAF Maastricht celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2012 with 72,000 visitors over the course of the fair, held from March 15 to 24. Of these 44% came from outside the Netherlands with a marked increase in buyers from Russia, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. 85% of visitors describe themselves as private buyers, of which more than 21% were visiting for the first time.
Ben Janssens, Chairman of the Executive Committee commented, “Having participated in the Fair from the outset in 1988, I have been astounded by the number of new clients I have met and sold to this year.”
Collecting interests of visitors were spread almost equally between the three biggest areas of the Fair - Old Master paintings (30%), antiques (36%) and modern and contemporary (34%). More than 34% of all visitors stayed at least one night in Maastricht or the surrounding area.
A major painting by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, a powerful portrait of the English king Henry VIII, a sculpture by Anish Kapoor and an important and historic piece of silver were just some of the sales.
Noortman Master Paintings of Amsterdam had a strong start to the Fair selling two important still lifes by Dutch painters - Flowers in a terracotta vase by Jan van Huysum and Adrian Coorte’s Three peaches on a ledge. The Fine Art Society from London is exhibiting a contemporary take on classic Dutch still lifes with Rob and Nick Carter’s Transforming Still Life Painting, a three hour digitally engineered film of one of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder’s greatest paintings. Bob Haboldt, an Old Master paintings dealer at TEFAF, bought one of the limited edition films for his private collection leaving just one available for purchase. An unconventional work from a much earlier age, A reversible anthropomorphic portrait of a man composed of fruit by the 16th century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo was sold to a European private collector by French & Company of New York.
Silver sales were also strong with an American private collector buying The Walpole Inkstand for which Koopman Rare Art of London was asking $5 million. This important and historic piece is one of only two made by the great silversmith Paul de Lamerie in 1729 for Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. The other is owned by the Bank of England. John Endlich Antiquairs from Haarlem sold a classic piece of 17th century Dutch silver, a tazza made by the Delft silversmith Cornelis van der Burch in 1604, which was once in the Ritman Collection, for an undisclosed sum.
A rare Egyptian limestone relief depicting Queen Hatshepshut, one of the first women to rule in her own right rather than as the wife of a male Pharaoh, attracted huge interest before the Fair and was quickly sold at the private view to an American private collector for “a substantial six figure sum” by Rupert Wace Ancient Art of London. Very few images of Hatshepshut, who ruled from 1479 to 1458BC, have survived. Another antiquities dealer, Royal-Athena Galleries of New York, sold a Roman bronze torso of Aphrodite 1st-2nd century AD which had an asking price of $375,000, while Kunsthandel Mieke Zilverberg of Amsterdam sold a very early bronze Villanova/Italic two-wheeled model of a chariot from the 8th-7th centuries BC to the Allard Pierson Museum at the University of Amsterdam.
TEFAF Modern also performed well with Gana Art of Seoul, Korea selling an untitled 2011 stainless steel sculpture by Anish Kapoor to a European collector while Daniel Blau of Munich sold more than 20 of his exhibition of 1950s drawings by Andy Warhol for prices in the region of 50,000 to 60,000 each. The drawings proved so popular that he had to re-hang his stand. In TEFAF Paper an American collector bought nine vintage silver prints by Josef Sudek from photography dealer Johannes Faber of Vienna.
TEFAF Maastricht hosted 265 specialists from 19 different countries. Between them they exhibited more than 30,000 works of art, antiques and design objects from pre-history to the present day with an aggregate value of more than 3 billion euros. “At TEFAF you get spoiled foreve,r” commented American collector, Jean Doyen de Montaillou.
TEFAF is often referred to as a museum in which everything is for sale. The displays created by dealers during the Fair are admired by collectors and museum professionals throughout the world. Susan Lynch, Chair of the Board of Directors and Patrons of the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, USA, commented that, “TEFAF is inspiring, educational and a delight.” Over the course of the Fair TEFAF attracted over 238 museums from 21 countries.
Before the Fair opened each object was examined for quality, authenticity and condition by 175 international experts on 29 separate specialist committees. TEFAF Antiques is the biggest section in the Fair with 102 exhibitors. This is followed by the TEFAF Paintings with 59 and TEFAF Modern with 51.
During the Preview and the run of the Fair, visitors consumed 15.000 glasses of champagne; 31.000 wine; 75.000 cups of coffee; 10.000 pastries; 50.000 sandwiches and 11.000 oysters, which were served by 2300 waiters having been prepared by 515 cooks.
It is not only the works of art on display that attracts plaudits, the Fair itself is renowned for its presentation. ” There is no other Fair that looks like TEFAF”, commented Leo Villareal, whose specially commissioned light sculpture welcomed visitors in the entrance hall of the Fair.
Building the Fair is a major construction project that requires 220 men and women to work for 23 days of which 11 days are around the clock. On the Monday before the Fair opened 20 people worked throughout the night to lay 15.000m of carpet in the aisles of the Fair. The entrance hall was decked with 800m of padded panelling. The stand builders drank 30,000 cups of coffee and used 250kg of sugar.
Flowers form an important element of the display at TEFAF Maastricht and the 2012 Fair was no exception. In 2012 over the duration of the Fair, the entrance display used 33,000 Avalanche roses; the corridors, squares and cafés decorated with 40,500 of the most exclusive multi-coloured long-stalked French tulips, augmented by 4,500 branches of magnolia or cherry blossoms while the arrangements in the Place de La Concorde used 24,000 multi-coloured short-stemmed Dutch tulips.
Ben Janssens, Chairman of the Executive Committee commented, “Having participated in the Fair from the outset in 1988, I have been astounded by the number of new clients I have met and sold to this year.”
Collecting interests of visitors were spread almost equally between the three biggest areas of the Fair - Old Master paintings (30%), antiques (36%) and modern and contemporary (34%). More than 34% of all visitors stayed at least one night in Maastricht or the surrounding area.
A major painting by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, a powerful portrait of the English king Henry VIII, a sculpture by Anish Kapoor and an important and historic piece of silver were just some of the sales.
Noortman Master Paintings of Amsterdam had a strong start to the Fair selling two important still lifes by Dutch painters - Flowers in a terracotta vase by Jan van Huysum and Adrian Coorte’s Three peaches on a ledge. The Fine Art Society from London is exhibiting a contemporary take on classic Dutch still lifes with Rob and Nick Carter’s Transforming Still Life Painting, a three hour digitally engineered film of one of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder’s greatest paintings. Bob Haboldt, an Old Master paintings dealer at TEFAF, bought one of the limited edition films for his private collection leaving just one available for purchase. An unconventional work from a much earlier age, A reversible anthropomorphic portrait of a man composed of fruit by the 16th century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo was sold to a European private collector by French & Company of New York.
Silver sales were also strong with an American private collector buying The Walpole Inkstand for which Koopman Rare Art of London was asking $5 million. This important and historic piece is one of only two made by the great silversmith Paul de Lamerie in 1729 for Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. The other is owned by the Bank of England. John Endlich Antiquairs from Haarlem sold a classic piece of 17th century Dutch silver, a tazza made by the Delft silversmith Cornelis van der Burch in 1604, which was once in the Ritman Collection, for an undisclosed sum.
A rare Egyptian limestone relief depicting Queen Hatshepshut, one of the first women to rule in her own right rather than as the wife of a male Pharaoh, attracted huge interest before the Fair and was quickly sold at the private view to an American private collector for “a substantial six figure sum” by Rupert Wace Ancient Art of London. Very few images of Hatshepshut, who ruled from 1479 to 1458BC, have survived. Another antiquities dealer, Royal-Athena Galleries of New York, sold a Roman bronze torso of Aphrodite 1st-2nd century AD which had an asking price of $375,000, while Kunsthandel Mieke Zilverberg of Amsterdam sold a very early bronze Villanova/Italic two-wheeled model of a chariot from the 8th-7th centuries BC to the Allard Pierson Museum at the University of Amsterdam.
TEFAF Modern also performed well with Gana Art of Seoul, Korea selling an untitled 2011 stainless steel sculpture by Anish Kapoor to a European collector while Daniel Blau of Munich sold more than 20 of his exhibition of 1950s drawings by Andy Warhol for prices in the region of 50,000 to 60,000 each. The drawings proved so popular that he had to re-hang his stand. In TEFAF Paper an American collector bought nine vintage silver prints by Josef Sudek from photography dealer Johannes Faber of Vienna.
TEFAF Maastricht hosted 265 specialists from 19 different countries. Between them they exhibited more than 30,000 works of art, antiques and design objects from pre-history to the present day with an aggregate value of more than 3 billion euros. “At TEFAF you get spoiled foreve,r” commented American collector, Jean Doyen de Montaillou.
TEFAF is often referred to as a museum in which everything is for sale. The displays created by dealers during the Fair are admired by collectors and museum professionals throughout the world. Susan Lynch, Chair of the Board of Directors and Patrons of the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, USA, commented that, “TEFAF is inspiring, educational and a delight.” Over the course of the Fair TEFAF attracted over 238 museums from 21 countries.
Before the Fair opened each object was examined for quality, authenticity and condition by 175 international experts on 29 separate specialist committees. TEFAF Antiques is the biggest section in the Fair with 102 exhibitors. This is followed by the TEFAF Paintings with 59 and TEFAF Modern with 51.
During the Preview and the run of the Fair, visitors consumed 15.000 glasses of champagne; 31.000 wine; 75.000 cups of coffee; 10.000 pastries; 50.000 sandwiches and 11.000 oysters, which were served by 2300 waiters having been prepared by 515 cooks.
It is not only the works of art on display that attracts plaudits, the Fair itself is renowned for its presentation. ” There is no other Fair that looks like TEFAF”, commented Leo Villareal, whose specially commissioned light sculpture welcomed visitors in the entrance hall of the Fair.
Building the Fair is a major construction project that requires 220 men and women to work for 23 days of which 11 days are around the clock. On the Monday before the Fair opened 20 people worked throughout the night to lay 15.000m of carpet in the aisles of the Fair. The entrance hall was decked with 800m of padded panelling. The stand builders drank 30,000 cups of coffee and used 250kg of sugar.
Flowers form an important element of the display at TEFAF Maastricht and the 2012 Fair was no exception. In 2012 over the duration of the Fair, the entrance display used 33,000 Avalanche roses; the corridors, squares and cafés decorated with 40,500 of the most exclusive multi-coloured long-stalked French tulips, augmented by 4,500 branches of magnolia or cherry blossoms while the arrangements in the Place de La Concorde used 24,000 multi-coloured short-stemmed Dutch tulips.
2012年3月26日星期一
Royal Academy opens its doors to art for Summer Exhibition
The Royal Academy opened its doors to a deluge of art today as the first works were submitted for its annual Summer Exhibition. Between 11,000 and 12,000 pieces, ranging from pencil drawings to vast oil paintings, are expected to be brought to the London gallery, which is currently hosting David Hockney's blockbuster show.
"This is the first time I've submitted a piece," said Rowena Ardern, a former primary school teacher, now fabric designer and artist from Lancaster. She was carrying an embroidered drawing called Blackbird and Allium Cernuum into the gallery, where she unwrapped it and handed it over to gallery staff. "I've been to the exhibition before and saw things where I thought, 'I could do as good as that', so I thought I might as well give it a go." She hopes to sell the work for 400 – artists set the prices. "I don't know whether that's too much," she fretted. "It's so difficult to judge."
Now in its 244th year, the Summer Exhibition is the world's largest open-submission contemporary art show. Anyone is allowed to enter work, which is judged by a panel of Royal Academicians – the eminent artists who make up the 80-strong membership of the RA. After looking at every work, in any medium (sculptures are viewed by photograph) they will whittle it down to a shortlist of 1,000 to 2,000. These are then taken into the gallery, where they are sifted again into a coherent exhibition. Only on the final day of the hang are the artists contacted to be told whether their work will be included.
"It's only then we can start cataloguing everything because [the panel] have always got the option of going back to the works they didn't originally select," said Edith Devaney, the RA's head of summer Exhibition and curator. "They might wake up in the middle of the night and say 'I had this recollection of this fantastic oil', give a description and we try and find it – that happens, and it's rather wonderful when it does."
This year's panel is headed by Tess Jaray, the artist who taught at Slade school of art from 1968 to 1999. "She's been encouraging people she's taught over the past decade to enter," said Devaney. "She'll be celebrating the more modestly sized work, but also supporting emerging artists. It's going to have a slightly different feel this year – that's a great thing about having a different co-ordinator every year. They take it in slightly different directions."
At least two of the artists in the queue to submit pictures had had work in previous Summer Exhibitions. Lyndon Douglas, a commercial photographer from London, had an art photograph purchased last year by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the head of the Royal Academy. "It was great to be able to express my own ideas through my own personal work and for it to be received like that," he said. This year he is submitting a mixed-media piece called Vessel, which commemorates his late mother and includes a real, dried, Jamaican "doctor fish", priced at 3,500.
Greg Genestine-Charlton, also from London, sold a work for 700 two years ago, though he failed to make the cut last year. He was carrying a small painting called Blue, which depicts a mother and child, taken from a newspaper clipping. "The first year when I got in I was over the moon," he said.
Almost all the work will be for sale – the RA takes a 30% cut, much less than a commercial gallerist would take, which is ploughed into the Royal Academy Schools. Prices range from around 100 for a print to hundreds of thousands for work by academicians, which does not need to go through the selection process. Last year's show included work by Anish Kapoor, Martin Creed and Tracey Emin.
Barbara Raimondo, from Milan, unwrapped two photographs, Looking For Myself and Noah, for 350 and 250 respectively, in the hope that the exhibition would mark her London debut.
Clare Caulfield had taken the train from Saltaire in Yorkshire with a large pen and watercolour of Caffe Florian in Venice under her arm, priced 650. She said that getting in to the show would be "a great achievement – I'd love to come down and see it hanging there".
"It's very exciting for us to see the line of work coming through and there's something really special. You haven't seen anything quite like it before and then you think 'that's going ito get in, it will sell in the first week', and they usually do," said Devaney, adding that buyers at the show stretch from complete beginners to hardened collectors.
Though the Summer Exhibition is sometimes lampooned by art critics as the place where amateur watercolourists from the Shires can get their works onto the RA's hallowed walls, Devaney said that most of the artists are professionals. "Artists can be struggling for years, but if they get in, their work will be seen by 250,000 people. Having your name published in a catalogue means people may offer you a show in commercial galleries – it can make a huge difference."
"This is the first time I've submitted a piece," said Rowena Ardern, a former primary school teacher, now fabric designer and artist from Lancaster. She was carrying an embroidered drawing called Blackbird and Allium Cernuum into the gallery, where she unwrapped it and handed it over to gallery staff. "I've been to the exhibition before and saw things where I thought, 'I could do as good as that', so I thought I might as well give it a go." She hopes to sell the work for 400 – artists set the prices. "I don't know whether that's too much," she fretted. "It's so difficult to judge."
Now in its 244th year, the Summer Exhibition is the world's largest open-submission contemporary art show. Anyone is allowed to enter work, which is judged by a panel of Royal Academicians – the eminent artists who make up the 80-strong membership of the RA. After looking at every work, in any medium (sculptures are viewed by photograph) they will whittle it down to a shortlist of 1,000 to 2,000. These are then taken into the gallery, where they are sifted again into a coherent exhibition. Only on the final day of the hang are the artists contacted to be told whether their work will be included.
"It's only then we can start cataloguing everything because [the panel] have always got the option of going back to the works they didn't originally select," said Edith Devaney, the RA's head of summer Exhibition and curator. "They might wake up in the middle of the night and say 'I had this recollection of this fantastic oil', give a description and we try and find it – that happens, and it's rather wonderful when it does."
This year's panel is headed by Tess Jaray, the artist who taught at Slade school of art from 1968 to 1999. "She's been encouraging people she's taught over the past decade to enter," said Devaney. "She'll be celebrating the more modestly sized work, but also supporting emerging artists. It's going to have a slightly different feel this year – that's a great thing about having a different co-ordinator every year. They take it in slightly different directions."
At least two of the artists in the queue to submit pictures had had work in previous Summer Exhibitions. Lyndon Douglas, a commercial photographer from London, had an art photograph purchased last year by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the head of the Royal Academy. "It was great to be able to express my own ideas through my own personal work and for it to be received like that," he said. This year he is submitting a mixed-media piece called Vessel, which commemorates his late mother and includes a real, dried, Jamaican "doctor fish", priced at 3,500.
Greg Genestine-Charlton, also from London, sold a work for 700 two years ago, though he failed to make the cut last year. He was carrying a small painting called Blue, which depicts a mother and child, taken from a newspaper clipping. "The first year when I got in I was over the moon," he said.
Almost all the work will be for sale – the RA takes a 30% cut, much less than a commercial gallerist would take, which is ploughed into the Royal Academy Schools. Prices range from around 100 for a print to hundreds of thousands for work by academicians, which does not need to go through the selection process. Last year's show included work by Anish Kapoor, Martin Creed and Tracey Emin.
Barbara Raimondo, from Milan, unwrapped two photographs, Looking For Myself and Noah, for 350 and 250 respectively, in the hope that the exhibition would mark her London debut.
Clare Caulfield had taken the train from Saltaire in Yorkshire with a large pen and watercolour of Caffe Florian in Venice under her arm, priced 650. She said that getting in to the show would be "a great achievement – I'd love to come down and see it hanging there".
"It's very exciting for us to see the line of work coming through and there's something really special. You haven't seen anything quite like it before and then you think 'that's going ito get in, it will sell in the first week', and they usually do," said Devaney, adding that buyers at the show stretch from complete beginners to hardened collectors.
Though the Summer Exhibition is sometimes lampooned by art critics as the place where amateur watercolourists from the Shires can get their works onto the RA's hallowed walls, Devaney said that most of the artists are professionals. "Artists can be struggling for years, but if they get in, their work will be seen by 250,000 people. Having your name published in a catalogue means people may offer you a show in commercial galleries – it can make a huge difference."
2012年3月25日星期日
Former Corsicana man featured in Western Artists Show
Lee Herring, formerly of Corsicana, is one of the 68 professional artists bringing his work to the show and sale of the Western Artists of America at the end of March. Herring lived in Corsicana as a child, attending Sam Houston Elementary.
Although he’s best-known for the historical accuracy of his Western-themed paintings, Herring also paints still lifes, portraits and sculpts. The pieces he’s bringing to Corsicana include one of mustangs being roped, and of some Texas Rangers with a prisoner in custody. His work is currently on display at the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in Waco, as well as in several galleries around the country.
His family’s roots are in Navarro County, having been farmers out near Emhouse, although Herring recalls living on Sycamore in Corsicana for awhile.
“I was always an artist. I was doing it on the wallpaper when I was a kid, and getting whipped for that,” he said. “But that’s how I started out. I’ve always been drawing something.”
Herring participated in the show/sale last year, the first time the Western Artists of America came to the Pierce, and curators were happy to see him return this year.
“We’ve dubbed him the storyteller for the show,” said Holly Beasley, director of the museum. “He did a piece called Britt Johnson, about a man out in West Texas who ‘The Searchers’ movie with John Wayne was based on. Every piece he does now has an in-depth story behind it.”
After leaving Corsicana, Herring continued his training as an artist, and attended East Texas State University, where he played football and earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees. After graduation, he taught in Australia, earned his pilot's license, and eventually returned to Texas to teach. He turned his hand to Western art in 1975, using both oil and watercolor.
Although he’s probably best known for his paintings of gorgeous scenery and cowboys, Herring has also depicted Bonnie and Clyde, children in bluebonnets, modern portraits, and even painted violins. The Bonnie and Clyde painting came about because of a conversation with a curator at the Rangers Hall of Fame museum.
“I’d been working with the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame guys here in Waco, getting a couple of ideas from them,” Herring explained. “They’ve got a couple of pieces of mine over there on loan. I went to them and said ‘what’s the most popular exhibit?’ and they said ‘Bonnie and Clyde.’”
The depiction of the famous criminal couple will be one of the pieces available at the sale on March 30 in Corsicana.
Herring will also be signing autographs as part of an autograph party being hosted at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Cook Center.
Although the show and sale isn’t officially open until next weekend, the art will be available for viewing starting Monday in the Pierce Museum of Western Art at the Cook Center on the Navarro College Corsicana campus.
Although he’s best-known for the historical accuracy of his Western-themed paintings, Herring also paints still lifes, portraits and sculpts. The pieces he’s bringing to Corsicana include one of mustangs being roped, and of some Texas Rangers with a prisoner in custody. His work is currently on display at the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in Waco, as well as in several galleries around the country.
His family’s roots are in Navarro County, having been farmers out near Emhouse, although Herring recalls living on Sycamore in Corsicana for awhile.
“I was always an artist. I was doing it on the wallpaper when I was a kid, and getting whipped for that,” he said. “But that’s how I started out. I’ve always been drawing something.”
Herring participated in the show/sale last year, the first time the Western Artists of America came to the Pierce, and curators were happy to see him return this year.
“We’ve dubbed him the storyteller for the show,” said Holly Beasley, director of the museum. “He did a piece called Britt Johnson, about a man out in West Texas who ‘The Searchers’ movie with John Wayne was based on. Every piece he does now has an in-depth story behind it.”
After leaving Corsicana, Herring continued his training as an artist, and attended East Texas State University, where he played football and earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees. After graduation, he taught in Australia, earned his pilot's license, and eventually returned to Texas to teach. He turned his hand to Western art in 1975, using both oil and watercolor.
Although he’s probably best known for his paintings of gorgeous scenery and cowboys, Herring has also depicted Bonnie and Clyde, children in bluebonnets, modern portraits, and even painted violins. The Bonnie and Clyde painting came about because of a conversation with a curator at the Rangers Hall of Fame museum.
“I’d been working with the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame guys here in Waco, getting a couple of ideas from them,” Herring explained. “They’ve got a couple of pieces of mine over there on loan. I went to them and said ‘what’s the most popular exhibit?’ and they said ‘Bonnie and Clyde.’”
The depiction of the famous criminal couple will be one of the pieces available at the sale on March 30 in Corsicana.
Herring will also be signing autographs as part of an autograph party being hosted at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Cook Center.
Although the show and sale isn’t officially open until next weekend, the art will be available for viewing starting Monday in the Pierce Museum of Western Art at the Cook Center on the Navarro College Corsicana campus.
2012年3月22日星期四
Is nothing sacred?
DAMIEN HIRST may be rich and famous, but he does not have everything. The 46-year-old artist has never had a solo retrospective in a modern-art museum. If he is to turn his notoriety into immortality, he needs the backing of public institutions and the praise of serious critics. Mr Hirst and his dealers have favoured fast sales over the art-historical side of his career. But Tate Modern has come to the rescue with an Olympic blockbuster show, which runs for five months from April 4th.
The exhibition consists of 73 works made over a 22-year period, arranged chronologically to convey the evolution of Mr Hirst’s ideas. The general trajectory is from gritty to glitzy, from punk assemblages, such as cabinets filled with pills and cigarette butts, to art that looks like bespoke luxury goods. If viewers cast aside their hostility, what may astonish is Mr Hirst’s ability to transform dry conceptual art into witty, emotionally engaging work.
Six of the works in the show are owned or partially owned by the Tate. This includes two “still lives” which flicker between poignancy and irony: “Away from the Flock” (1994), a white sheep suspended in a tank of formaldehyde, and “Mother and Child Divided” (1993), a cow and calf split between four tanks. Of the 67 pieces borrowed for the show, only three have come from public institutions. The rest are on loan from dealers and a range of private collectors, including Miuccia Prada, Bernard Arnault and Steve Cohen. Luckily for them, works that have been anointed by the Tate command more credibility and a premium upon resale.
Yet the number-one lender to the Hirst retrospective is the artist himself. In addition to some early pieces, a breezy spin painting and a six-tonne bronze sculpture of an anatomical model, he has lent “A Thousand Years” (1991), a glass box that bears witness to the life cycle of flies. It was one of a dozen early works that the artist purchased back from his first patron, Charles Saatchi, in 2003. Mr Hirst suspects the sculpture is his most exciting piece. Many prefer a more beautiful work with a similar theme that he made a few months later, titled “In and Out of Love”. This installation consists of two rooms, one in which live butterflies hatch from pupae embedded in white paintings, and another in which dead butterflies are pressed onto the surfaces of brightly coloured canvasses. The show reunites these two rooms for the first time in 20 years.
The Tate’s turbine hall, a kind of post-industrial cathedral for art, will be given over to Mr Hirst’s diamond skull, “For the Love of God” (2007), which the artist co-owns with his London gallery, White Cube. The small platinum sculpture, which features real human teeth and over 8,000 diamonds, was promoted with an asking price of 50m—a tabloid tactic that clearly missed its target as the work failed to sell. The skull will be dramatically spot-lit in a dark room, much like jewellery at an auction preview. Officially, the display is not a marketing device but a comment on the “belief system” of capitalism.
Money is a theme but also a problem. The retrospective was meant to travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, but it has been put on indefinite hold because the show is so expensive. Works such as Mr Hirst’s famous shark (ie, “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” from 1991, pictured) take at least six technicians and a full seven days to install. The price of crating, shipping, installing and insuring Mr Hirst’s works exceeds MoCA’s entire annual exhibition budget of $3m—a sum donated by Eli Broad, a philanthropist. He has lent two works from his substantial collection of Hirsts to the Tate.
There are two conspicuous exclusions from the retrospective. First, it contains no figurative paintings of any kind—no photorealist works, no microscopic views of cancer cells, none of the canvasses that Mr Hirst paints with his own hand in the style of Francis Bacon. As it happens, most critics find these paintings painful to behold. Second, the exhibition omits “The Golden Calf” (2008), a bull with gold horns and hooves in a gold-plated tank, which was the centrepiece of Mr Hirst’s 2008 Sotheby’s sale, “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever”. The Wall Street Journal reported that Francois Pinault bought the 10.3m bull, a perplexing move for the owner of Christie’s, a connoisseur with minimalist taste. Certainly Mr Pinault has deep investments in Mr Hirst’s work. He has lent two pieces to the Tate, including an important precursor to the shark, “Isolated Elements Swimming in the Same Direction for the Purpose of Understanding (right)”.
Many collectors of Mr Hirst’s work hope that this show will reinvigorate his market. According to artnet, a firm that tracks the art market, in 2011 one in four Hirst works that came up for auction failed to sell, and his highest price was $1.7m, down from $19m in 2007. Last year total auction turnover in Hirst works was a mere $29.6m, placing him well behind artists such as Gerhard Richter, whose work earned almost $200m in auction sales, and Zeng Fanzhi, a Chinese painter who is probably the richest artist in the world.
The exhibition consists of 73 works made over a 22-year period, arranged chronologically to convey the evolution of Mr Hirst’s ideas. The general trajectory is from gritty to glitzy, from punk assemblages, such as cabinets filled with pills and cigarette butts, to art that looks like bespoke luxury goods. If viewers cast aside their hostility, what may astonish is Mr Hirst’s ability to transform dry conceptual art into witty, emotionally engaging work.
Six of the works in the show are owned or partially owned by the Tate. This includes two “still lives” which flicker between poignancy and irony: “Away from the Flock” (1994), a white sheep suspended in a tank of formaldehyde, and “Mother and Child Divided” (1993), a cow and calf split between four tanks. Of the 67 pieces borrowed for the show, only three have come from public institutions. The rest are on loan from dealers and a range of private collectors, including Miuccia Prada, Bernard Arnault and Steve Cohen. Luckily for them, works that have been anointed by the Tate command more credibility and a premium upon resale.
Yet the number-one lender to the Hirst retrospective is the artist himself. In addition to some early pieces, a breezy spin painting and a six-tonne bronze sculpture of an anatomical model, he has lent “A Thousand Years” (1991), a glass box that bears witness to the life cycle of flies. It was one of a dozen early works that the artist purchased back from his first patron, Charles Saatchi, in 2003. Mr Hirst suspects the sculpture is his most exciting piece. Many prefer a more beautiful work with a similar theme that he made a few months later, titled “In and Out of Love”. This installation consists of two rooms, one in which live butterflies hatch from pupae embedded in white paintings, and another in which dead butterflies are pressed onto the surfaces of brightly coloured canvasses. The show reunites these two rooms for the first time in 20 years.
The Tate’s turbine hall, a kind of post-industrial cathedral for art, will be given over to Mr Hirst’s diamond skull, “For the Love of God” (2007), which the artist co-owns with his London gallery, White Cube. The small platinum sculpture, which features real human teeth and over 8,000 diamonds, was promoted with an asking price of 50m—a tabloid tactic that clearly missed its target as the work failed to sell. The skull will be dramatically spot-lit in a dark room, much like jewellery at an auction preview. Officially, the display is not a marketing device but a comment on the “belief system” of capitalism.
Money is a theme but also a problem. The retrospective was meant to travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, but it has been put on indefinite hold because the show is so expensive. Works such as Mr Hirst’s famous shark (ie, “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” from 1991, pictured) take at least six technicians and a full seven days to install. The price of crating, shipping, installing and insuring Mr Hirst’s works exceeds MoCA’s entire annual exhibition budget of $3m—a sum donated by Eli Broad, a philanthropist. He has lent two works from his substantial collection of Hirsts to the Tate.
There are two conspicuous exclusions from the retrospective. First, it contains no figurative paintings of any kind—no photorealist works, no microscopic views of cancer cells, none of the canvasses that Mr Hirst paints with his own hand in the style of Francis Bacon. As it happens, most critics find these paintings painful to behold. Second, the exhibition omits “The Golden Calf” (2008), a bull with gold horns and hooves in a gold-plated tank, which was the centrepiece of Mr Hirst’s 2008 Sotheby’s sale, “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever”. The Wall Street Journal reported that Francois Pinault bought the 10.3m bull, a perplexing move for the owner of Christie’s, a connoisseur with minimalist taste. Certainly Mr Pinault has deep investments in Mr Hirst’s work. He has lent two pieces to the Tate, including an important precursor to the shark, “Isolated Elements Swimming in the Same Direction for the Purpose of Understanding (right)”.
Many collectors of Mr Hirst’s work hope that this show will reinvigorate his market. According to artnet, a firm that tracks the art market, in 2011 one in four Hirst works that came up for auction failed to sell, and his highest price was $1.7m, down from $19m in 2007. Last year total auction turnover in Hirst works was a mere $29.6m, placing him well behind artists such as Gerhard Richter, whose work earned almost $200m in auction sales, and Zeng Fanzhi, a Chinese painter who is probably the richest artist in the world.
2012年3月21日星期三
How Damien Hirst tried to transform the art market
In his television documentary The Mona Lisa Curse, the pugnacious and persuasive art critic Robert Hughes argued that traditional values which judge art by its quality have been overridden by marketing and hype, and that, in the present consumer culture, the only meaning left for art is a financial one. Perhaps today, the millions who visit museums do so in order to contemplate art’s financial rather than aesthetic values.
The artists Hughes singled out as being worth so much more than they merited were Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst. So will people go to Hirst’s retrospective at Tate Modern to mull over the millions of pounds his art represents? The critics are likely to see the selection, which emphasises his early work, as supporting the view that Hirst had made his best, most original work by the latter half of the 1990s, and everything after that was repetition. But then, even if it has been a bit of a production line, it has been a very successful one, and so in itself a comment on consumer culture.
Warhol also addressed consumer culture, was repetitive, and employed factory workers to make his art, just as Hirst has done. But the difference is that Hirst has enjoyed far more commercial success than Warhol ever did.
Hirst is often cited as the richest artist in the UK, even in the world. In 2009, the Sunday Times Rich List assessed his wealth at 235 million. That may have been an understatement. In 2008, his business manager, Frank Dunphy, said Hirst was “a dollar billionaire”. Dunphy, an accountant who had worked with the artist since the mid-Nineties, was clearly proud of his achievement, turning Hirst from a potential drunken layabout into a number-one bankable asset, and a lot of interesting facts came out.
Hirst employed 160 staff making artworks for him at five studios in England. He owned dozens of properties from Mayfair to Mexico, including the 3 million Toddington Manor, where he planned to put his art collection – then worth about $400 million (252 million) – including a self-portrait by Francis Bacon which he had bought in 2007 for 16 million.
There wasn’t a run-down of gallery sales but, occasionally, some figures would be revealed: Charles Saatchi buying the Humbrol toy sculpture, Hymn, for 1 million, a White Cube sell-out for 11 million, a multi-million sell-out in his first show in Mexico – added to which was the $20 million (12 million) sale of the contents of the Pharmacy restaurant, and the 111 million pound Beautiful sale at Sotheby’s, which took place just before the West’s financial crash.
Adding to the earnings figures has been Other Criteria, Hirst’s retail outlet, which was netting $12 million (7.5 million) a year on brand products like prints and T-shirts. Recently Hirst has announced his plans to build 500 eco homes in Devon – a money-spinner if it takes off – and the opening of a gallery in London to house his own collection.
The popular obsession with wealth and fame has ensured that Hirst’s name is ineradicably associated with something other than his art. The 50 million diamond-encrusted skull he made in 2007 tells us how wealth cannot buy immortality. The Sotheby’s sale in 2008 was a statement of the artist’s superiority over his dealers and, being more of the same but with added bling for the new rich collectors, a work of art in itself.
Both of these are featured in the Tate show – the skull in the Turbine Hall, and an installation from the Sotheby’s sale upstairs to support the “whole work of art” idea. But if they are about money, neither is quite complete.
The skull has never been sold properly, so doesn’t have a real value – only the price attached to it. And the effects of the Sotheby’s sale are still being played out, as works that were bought there (perhaps with the extended credit terms that were offered) resurface on the market, selling for half or two-thirds of the price they sold for initially.
This fits well with Hirst’s intentions to reverse the normal pattern of accruing value – to buy the new work from the artist or his dealer for, say, 1,000, wait for the value to go up, and then resell for 10,000 – excluding the artist from any profit.
Hirst objected to that process, saying he believed artists should make their work more expensive at the first point of sale. “The first time you sell something is when it should cost the most,” he said. It means treating a work of art like a new car or a piece of furniture, but it is the way an artist, who does not profit from auction resales, can make the most money.
If this is what happened at the Sotheby’s sale, with Hirst pocketing the lion’s share, it has been the buyers who have suffered a loss at the point of resale, not Hirst. Nor has Hirst been perturbed by the downturn in his auction prices. “What goes up must come down,” he says. “It’s like when John Lennon went to get his long hair cut and was asked why. 'What else can you do after you’ve grown it long?’ he answered.”
The artists Hughes singled out as being worth so much more than they merited were Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst. So will people go to Hirst’s retrospective at Tate Modern to mull over the millions of pounds his art represents? The critics are likely to see the selection, which emphasises his early work, as supporting the view that Hirst had made his best, most original work by the latter half of the 1990s, and everything after that was repetition. But then, even if it has been a bit of a production line, it has been a very successful one, and so in itself a comment on consumer culture.
Warhol also addressed consumer culture, was repetitive, and employed factory workers to make his art, just as Hirst has done. But the difference is that Hirst has enjoyed far more commercial success than Warhol ever did.
Hirst is often cited as the richest artist in the UK, even in the world. In 2009, the Sunday Times Rich List assessed his wealth at 235 million. That may have been an understatement. In 2008, his business manager, Frank Dunphy, said Hirst was “a dollar billionaire”. Dunphy, an accountant who had worked with the artist since the mid-Nineties, was clearly proud of his achievement, turning Hirst from a potential drunken layabout into a number-one bankable asset, and a lot of interesting facts came out.
Hirst employed 160 staff making artworks for him at five studios in England. He owned dozens of properties from Mayfair to Mexico, including the 3 million Toddington Manor, where he planned to put his art collection – then worth about $400 million (252 million) – including a self-portrait by Francis Bacon which he had bought in 2007 for 16 million.
There wasn’t a run-down of gallery sales but, occasionally, some figures would be revealed: Charles Saatchi buying the Humbrol toy sculpture, Hymn, for 1 million, a White Cube sell-out for 11 million, a multi-million sell-out in his first show in Mexico – added to which was the $20 million (12 million) sale of the contents of the Pharmacy restaurant, and the 111 million pound Beautiful sale at Sotheby’s, which took place just before the West’s financial crash.
Adding to the earnings figures has been Other Criteria, Hirst’s retail outlet, which was netting $12 million (7.5 million) a year on brand products like prints and T-shirts. Recently Hirst has announced his plans to build 500 eco homes in Devon – a money-spinner if it takes off – and the opening of a gallery in London to house his own collection.
The popular obsession with wealth and fame has ensured that Hirst’s name is ineradicably associated with something other than his art. The 50 million diamond-encrusted skull he made in 2007 tells us how wealth cannot buy immortality. The Sotheby’s sale in 2008 was a statement of the artist’s superiority over his dealers and, being more of the same but with added bling for the new rich collectors, a work of art in itself.
Both of these are featured in the Tate show – the skull in the Turbine Hall, and an installation from the Sotheby’s sale upstairs to support the “whole work of art” idea. But if they are about money, neither is quite complete.
The skull has never been sold properly, so doesn’t have a real value – only the price attached to it. And the effects of the Sotheby’s sale are still being played out, as works that were bought there (perhaps with the extended credit terms that were offered) resurface on the market, selling for half or two-thirds of the price they sold for initially.
This fits well with Hirst’s intentions to reverse the normal pattern of accruing value – to buy the new work from the artist or his dealer for, say, 1,000, wait for the value to go up, and then resell for 10,000 – excluding the artist from any profit.
Hirst objected to that process, saying he believed artists should make their work more expensive at the first point of sale. “The first time you sell something is when it should cost the most,” he said. It means treating a work of art like a new car or a piece of furniture, but it is the way an artist, who does not profit from auction resales, can make the most money.
If this is what happened at the Sotheby’s sale, with Hirst pocketing the lion’s share, it has been the buyers who have suffered a loss at the point of resale, not Hirst. Nor has Hirst been perturbed by the downturn in his auction prices. “What goes up must come down,” he says. “It’s like when John Lennon went to get his long hair cut and was asked why. 'What else can you do after you’ve grown it long?’ he answered.”
2012年3月20日星期二
Art market news: Serge Lifar’s estate sold for 7.3 million
Buyers were on a high at the Geneva sale last week of dancer Serge Lifar’s estate. The sale was estimated to fetch 1.5 million Swiss Francs (1 million), but realised 7.3 million SFr. Top lot was a set of 48 drawings by Jean Cocteau for his book Opium, which sold for 912,000 SFr – nearly 10 times the estimate – to Paris book dealer Jean-Claude Vrain. The Musée des lettres et manuscrits de Paris was extremely active, spending nearly 1 million SFr on autographed manuscripts and drawings by Cocteau and his friend Raymond Radiguet. One of the most extraordinary results was the 430,000 SFr paid for two inscribed photographs of Lifar with Coco Chanel, and a letter from Chanel. The estimate was 300 SFr.
The art critic and curator Andrew Renton made his first appearance as a commercial gallery director at Maastricht last week, where Marlborough Fine Art has hung a number of paintings by younger artists selected by Renton, who has been head-hunted from Goldsmith’s College of Art to bring the gallery into the 21st century. The paintings by Renton’s contemporaries, Koen van den Broek, Jason Brooks, Pam Golden and Graham Gussin, were priced between 7,000 and 55,000. Marlborough will officially open its London gallery extension for the contemporary art programme which Renton will direct, in October, to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair.
A highlight of the British Antique Dealers’ Association fair, which opens in Chelsea on Wednesday, is the display of watercolours by the 19th-century artist William Callow. Assembled over two decades by art consultant Julia Korner, and presented on the 200th anniversary of his birth, the collection shows Callow as a classical, plein-air watercolourist, who has perhaps unjustly been overshadowed by Girtin, Sandby and Bonington. Prices range from 900 to 40,000.
The best collection of paintings ever auctioned by north country artist Alan Lowndes is to be presented by Tennants in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, on Friday. Lowndes, who died in 1978 aged 57, was unfairly described a “the poor man’s Lowry”, but is currently being recognised as a highly individual artist. Highest estimate for the group is 12,000 for March Fair (pictured), which had been owned by Hollywood film star Rod Steiger. Expect Tennants’ conservative estimates to be left in the dust.
When London dealer Johnny van Haeften could not fly to Vienna to inspect a rare masterpiece by the Flemish painter Frans Francken, because of the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruptions, he bought it on the strength of internet reproductions for a staggering 7 million ($9.5 million). Last weekend, the dealer’s judgment was endorsed at TEFAF in Maastricht, when he sold the painting, Mankind’s Eternal Dilemma – the Choice Between Vice and Vertu, to an American collector for close to $14 million.
The art critic and curator Andrew Renton made his first appearance as a commercial gallery director at Maastricht last week, where Marlborough Fine Art has hung a number of paintings by younger artists selected by Renton, who has been head-hunted from Goldsmith’s College of Art to bring the gallery into the 21st century. The paintings by Renton’s contemporaries, Koen van den Broek, Jason Brooks, Pam Golden and Graham Gussin, were priced between 7,000 and 55,000. Marlborough will officially open its London gallery extension for the contemporary art programme which Renton will direct, in October, to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair.
A highlight of the British Antique Dealers’ Association fair, which opens in Chelsea on Wednesday, is the display of watercolours by the 19th-century artist William Callow. Assembled over two decades by art consultant Julia Korner, and presented on the 200th anniversary of his birth, the collection shows Callow as a classical, plein-air watercolourist, who has perhaps unjustly been overshadowed by Girtin, Sandby and Bonington. Prices range from 900 to 40,000.
The best collection of paintings ever auctioned by north country artist Alan Lowndes is to be presented by Tennants in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, on Friday. Lowndes, who died in 1978 aged 57, was unfairly described a “the poor man’s Lowry”, but is currently being recognised as a highly individual artist. Highest estimate for the group is 12,000 for March Fair (pictured), which had been owned by Hollywood film star Rod Steiger. Expect Tennants’ conservative estimates to be left in the dust.
When London dealer Johnny van Haeften could not fly to Vienna to inspect a rare masterpiece by the Flemish painter Frans Francken, because of the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruptions, he bought it on the strength of internet reproductions for a staggering 7 million ($9.5 million). Last weekend, the dealer’s judgment was endorsed at TEFAF in Maastricht, when he sold the painting, Mankind’s Eternal Dilemma – the Choice Between Vice and Vertu, to an American collector for close to $14 million.
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