In this edition of the Columbia Art League’s annual “Give a Gift of Art” holiday exhibit, the oils have it.
Each winner of the member’s open show were oil painters: JD King, CAL newcomer Kate Klingensmith and Jane Mudd placed first, second and third, respectively. All of the works of art — winners, honorable mentions, and others — are for sale during the holiday season, offering another chance to patrons to purchase art for their friends and loved ones.
Not only did oil paints take the spoils in this exhibit, but nature in its various forms is prominent as well. Landscapes depicting all seasons dominate the gallery walls; Executive Director Diana Moxon and her colleagues even began grouping some seasons together for presentation. An inner wall shows black-and-white images fringed by winter scenes, and the art on the wall facing the front windows collectively echo the last fiery vestiges of autumn colors. Tucked in right by the window is a fall-weather tribute to The Blue Note by Stephanie Jenkins. The artist represented the venerated music venue standing stately and surrounded by a thick glory of fall leaves from the trees lining the sidewalk on Ninth Street.
King’s first-place painting, “Hey Mack,” also testifies to the burning brilliance of fall colors; an imposing classic Mack truck, nearly the same bold colors as the landscape surrounding it, fills most of the canvas as leaves drop over and around it. The truck’s bumper lackadaisically reads, “Move It On Over.” King painted from an old photograph he had taken of a truck on the side of the road three miles west of Ashland, he said in an email. The massive tree behind the truck had begun to grow into the Mack’s back bed. Old trucks, he said, “embody a male aesthetic that has to do with responsibility, tradition and purpose, and they are also kind of sad in an almost romantic way. It’s kind of like a photo of that beloved old dog on the front porch. Seen a lot and wishes he could tell you about it.”
Jane Mudd, who earned third place, switches seasons with “Spring Thaw,” an oil-based kaleidoscope of color all worked into a slightly abstract, fluid rendering of a creek thawing into a slight waterfall. A bare tree is just budding in the foreground; the entire spectrum of smears fit together to create a beautifully wrought whole.
The storm dramas of summer have a presence as well: George Tutt’s large painting in the back corner, “Storm’s Comin’,” depicts a ramshackle shed in the foreground, painted in boldly opaque watercolors. A lamp-lit farmhouse rests in the background, reflecting gold glow into a small pond. Over the hills in the background, clouds rise, and a sky deepens purple with oncoming rain. Eric Seat’s painting, “After the Storm,” reflects the aftermath of such a gathering rain: A wall of dark clouds disperses and breaks into fingers of sunset-thrashed orange.
Nature is reflected in surreal and hyper-idealized forms in addition to the more straightforward landscapes. Amy Jerke’s photograph “Dream Worlds,” shows a stunning close-up of a dewdrop-studded feather, almost a Mother-Nature-forged Swarovski. Across from the photograph, Megan Henley, a Rock Bridge High School student who won this show’s Emerging Artist award, created a checkered paper-and-ink representation of a fish with a bulbous eye and a mass of stylized scales. Kate Passis, who often creates artistic studies in polymer clay, has returned with a small jewel of a mosaic that, upon closer inspection, turns out to be a reflection of a tree line under moonlight; leaves drop everywhere and land on the “water” portrayed as less vivid, more grayish stones. Even the moon, at the top left of the mosaic, has a water reflection in the bottom half of the mosaic, a slightly duller but still glistening bit of pearl.
Tending toward the mammalian side of nature is Kate Klingensmith’s second-place work, “Pinto in the Sun,” a painting showing the muscular sunlit flank of a pinto horse. Klingensmith, who moved to Moberly from Colorado this year, frequently used to drive past a farm named The Paint Factory that bred painted horses.
Klingensmith finally called the owners and asked if she could photograph their horses, she said in an email. “Pinto in the Sun” was one of the horses she photographed. “In addition to thinking about the overall design of the image,” she said, “I photograph what it is that fascinates me about a horse at that moment. … For ‘Pinto in the Sun,’ it was his mane and back, with the sun on him and a slight breeze in the air.” The artist, who paints horses on commission, also has expressed other natural themes in big-sky landscapes and highway scenes from Montana.
Near the front of the gallery is a collection of sculptures and functional objects that nearly look as if they had been plotted together or fashioned from the same channels of imagination. Ahmed Ithman, who is new to CAL, has created the self-describing “White & Green Vase,” a porcelain work with a sandy-colored rim and clouds of green and turquoise merging with creamy colors around the basin. Mike Seat and Ray Almeida also have contributed similarly colored functional sculptures; the three play together well while retaining their own artistic distinctions. Elsewhere in the sculptural offerings is a fluid, twisting lamp sculpture made out of “cone 6” translucent porcelain, sculpted by Fadra Hepner sculpted. The effect is almost that of a wizard’s hat. To create small divots reminiscent of constellations, which let light to the outside of the sculpture, Hepner rolled grains of rice into the porcelain, Moxon said. Each grain of rice burned up when she fired the sculpture, leaving the tiny dents behind.
2011年11月20日星期日
2011年11月17日星期四
Kaminski's Thanksgiving sale stuffed with treasures
The Saturday sale includes fine European and American decorative furnishings, fine art, including a Calder lithograph, Tiffany and estate jewelry, sterling silver and a wonderful collection of European furniture and decorative arts from an important California collector as well as a selection of furniture deaccessioned from a Massachusetts historical society. The entire second day is devoted to rugs from all over the world.
The art selection starts off with an early 1950s abstract color lithograph by Alexander Calder (American, (1898-1976) estimated at $15,000-$25,000. Calder, best known for his sculptures and mobiles died in 1976. Born into an artistic family, his father and grandfather were both sculptors and his mother was a painter. Calder studied mechanical engineering before starting his formal art training. In addition to his talent as a sculptor, he was an accomplished painter of gouaches and is known for his “poetic arrangements of boldly colored, irregularly shaped geometric forms that convey a sense of harmony and balance.”
Another important painting in the sale is an evening autumn Parisian street scene oil on canvas by Edouard Leon Cortes (French, 1882-1969) estimated at $20,000-$30,000.
A particularly exotic painting of a harem beauty by the Russian painter Paul Alexander Svedomsky (Russian 1849-1904), signed oil on canvas, is estimated at $12,000-$18,000. Other paintings by Russian artists in the sale include a sunset on the seashore scene by Constantin Aleksandrovich Westchiloff (1877-1945), an Alexandre Benois (1870-1960) of women by a fountain, both estimated at $8,000-$12,000, and a barn scene with horses and dogs signed oil on canvas by Nikolai Egorovich Sverchkov (1817-1898), $7,000-$10,000.
A contemporary piece, charcoal on paper, by the portrait painter Aleix (Alejo) Vidal-Quadras (Spanish b. 1919) titled The 4 Faces of Merle Oberon portrays the British actress in four different views. Famous for his portraits of prominent European aristocrats, this piece was sketched in 1959 after Oberon married Mexican industrialist Bruno Pagliai. It is estimated at $5,000-$8,000.
Other European artists include Eugene Von Blaas (Italian/Austrian, (1843-1931) girl with a jar, oil on panel estimated at $8,000-$10,000 and a 17th-century portrait of a Spanish prince, oil on canvas valued at $4,000-$7,000.
There is a portrait of the author William Butler Yeats by the British artist Henry Charles Brewer (1866-1950). It is initialed and dated “H.C.B. 1913” and is oil on canvas. It is estimated at $3,000-$5,000.
There are two George Stanfield Walters (British, 1838-1924) watercolors, both signed and dated. The first is an estuary view with small boats and the other a harbor scene with fishing boats. Walters is known for his landscapes and marine scenes, and his works are in the collections of the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert in London.
Two exceptional bronzes are on offer, the first a Joan of Arc, bronze signed “Fremiet” by Emmanuel Fremiet (French,1824-1910), famous for his sculpture of the same subject in Paris, and estimated to bring $3,000-$5,000, a second bronze by Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000) titled Prophet: Homage to Rico Lebrun, with dark brown patina, signed and dated “1977 Baskin FE AP,” artist’s proof, cast by Bedi-Makky Art Foundry, 36 inches high x 11 1/2 inches wide x 13 inches deep. This particular piece is shown in the artist’s monograph by Irma Jaffe, The Sculpture of Leonard Baskin. The bronze came from a collector in California who acquired the piece directly from the artist.
European furniture and decorative items come from an important California dealer and include two pairs of 19th-century Italian blackamoors, painted, laquered and gilded. These statues were popularized in the 17th century in Venice, Italy. Andrea Brustolon (Italian 1662-1732) was the most important sculptor of the art. The first pair stand 67 inches high and are estimated at $8,000-$12,000 and the second pair are holding a torchiere, stand 57 inches high and are estimated at $7,000-$9,000.
Italian furniture and decoration abound in this collection and there is a pair of 18th-century Italian carved wood and gesso columns, a 19th-century highly decorative Venetian display cabinet and a pair of early Italian floor lamps, as well as a pair of Italian sconces of silver gilt wood. There are also two Italian 19th-century carved gilt wood angels, a 19th-century Italian Rococo mirror, a pair of Rococo candelabras and many more Italian decorative items.
An extensive collection of French furniture and decorative pieces are also in the sale including two highly carved French vitrines, a pair of French painted panels having neoclassical motifs, oil on canvas, an early 20th-century French trumeau mirror estimated at $900-$1,200 and a 19th-century French Empire mantel clock, marble with ormolu bezel and an open pendulum, estimated at $800-$1,200.
The items deaccessioned from a Massachusetts Historical Society include an 18th-century slant-lid desk, an 18th-century two-drawer stand having acanthus carving in the manner of Duncan Phyfe, a set of six late 18th-century/early 19th-century ribbon-back side chairs, having pegged construction, a flame mahogany claw foot sofa, a 19th-century carved flame mahogany Empire sofa with heavily carved claw feet, and a 19th-century Empire game table and a mahogany tip-top table, originally owned by Bessie A. Baker of Beverly, Mass.
From the family of H. Sacks and Sons of Brookline, Mass., is a circa 1800-1815 Portsmouth, N.H., Hepplewhite bow-front, drop-front chest having four graduated drawers, with mahogany and birch banding inlay. The brass pulls have an American eagle design. A circa 1770, mahogany Pennsylvannia four-drawer chest with graduated drawers and ogee bracket feet that descended through the Drake family of Pennsylvannia and having Quaker roots is estimated at $1,500-$3,000.
In anticipation of Christmas gift buying, there is a large collection of jewelry in the sale, including a platinum and diamond bow pin with approximately 50 European cut diamonds and a center diamond of approximately 5 carats total weight estimated at $3,200-$3,500. A platinum pear-shaped diamond ring is estimated at $2,500-$3,500. Also featured are a platinum and diamond eternity band, many lots of Tiffany jewelry including an 18K yellow gold and ruby pin, a lot of two Tiffany diamond and ruby pins in the form of bees, a Tiffany 18K yellow gold and diamond ring and a 18K Tiffany yellow gold and ruby pendant, as well as a Tiffany/Perretti pendant on a matching chain. Cartier is represented in a 18K yellow gold bracelet. There are also two beautiful tanzanite rings in the sale.
The art selection starts off with an early 1950s abstract color lithograph by Alexander Calder (American, (1898-1976) estimated at $15,000-$25,000. Calder, best known for his sculptures and mobiles died in 1976. Born into an artistic family, his father and grandfather were both sculptors and his mother was a painter. Calder studied mechanical engineering before starting his formal art training. In addition to his talent as a sculptor, he was an accomplished painter of gouaches and is known for his “poetic arrangements of boldly colored, irregularly shaped geometric forms that convey a sense of harmony and balance.”
Another important painting in the sale is an evening autumn Parisian street scene oil on canvas by Edouard Leon Cortes (French, 1882-1969) estimated at $20,000-$30,000.
A particularly exotic painting of a harem beauty by the Russian painter Paul Alexander Svedomsky (Russian 1849-1904), signed oil on canvas, is estimated at $12,000-$18,000. Other paintings by Russian artists in the sale include a sunset on the seashore scene by Constantin Aleksandrovich Westchiloff (1877-1945), an Alexandre Benois (1870-1960) of women by a fountain, both estimated at $8,000-$12,000, and a barn scene with horses and dogs signed oil on canvas by Nikolai Egorovich Sverchkov (1817-1898), $7,000-$10,000.
A contemporary piece, charcoal on paper, by the portrait painter Aleix (Alejo) Vidal-Quadras (Spanish b. 1919) titled The 4 Faces of Merle Oberon portrays the British actress in four different views. Famous for his portraits of prominent European aristocrats, this piece was sketched in 1959 after Oberon married Mexican industrialist Bruno Pagliai. It is estimated at $5,000-$8,000.
Other European artists include Eugene Von Blaas (Italian/Austrian, (1843-1931) girl with a jar, oil on panel estimated at $8,000-$10,000 and a 17th-century portrait of a Spanish prince, oil on canvas valued at $4,000-$7,000.
There is a portrait of the author William Butler Yeats by the British artist Henry Charles Brewer (1866-1950). It is initialed and dated “H.C.B. 1913” and is oil on canvas. It is estimated at $3,000-$5,000.
There are two George Stanfield Walters (British, 1838-1924) watercolors, both signed and dated. The first is an estuary view with small boats and the other a harbor scene with fishing boats. Walters is known for his landscapes and marine scenes, and his works are in the collections of the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert in London.
Two exceptional bronzes are on offer, the first a Joan of Arc, bronze signed “Fremiet” by Emmanuel Fremiet (French,1824-1910), famous for his sculpture of the same subject in Paris, and estimated to bring $3,000-$5,000, a second bronze by Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000) titled Prophet: Homage to Rico Lebrun, with dark brown patina, signed and dated “1977 Baskin FE AP,” artist’s proof, cast by Bedi-Makky Art Foundry, 36 inches high x 11 1/2 inches wide x 13 inches deep. This particular piece is shown in the artist’s monograph by Irma Jaffe, The Sculpture of Leonard Baskin. The bronze came from a collector in California who acquired the piece directly from the artist.
European furniture and decorative items come from an important California dealer and include two pairs of 19th-century Italian blackamoors, painted, laquered and gilded. These statues were popularized in the 17th century in Venice, Italy. Andrea Brustolon (Italian 1662-1732) was the most important sculptor of the art. The first pair stand 67 inches high and are estimated at $8,000-$12,000 and the second pair are holding a torchiere, stand 57 inches high and are estimated at $7,000-$9,000.
Italian furniture and decoration abound in this collection and there is a pair of 18th-century Italian carved wood and gesso columns, a 19th-century highly decorative Venetian display cabinet and a pair of early Italian floor lamps, as well as a pair of Italian sconces of silver gilt wood. There are also two Italian 19th-century carved gilt wood angels, a 19th-century Italian Rococo mirror, a pair of Rococo candelabras and many more Italian decorative items.
An extensive collection of French furniture and decorative pieces are also in the sale including two highly carved French vitrines, a pair of French painted panels having neoclassical motifs, oil on canvas, an early 20th-century French trumeau mirror estimated at $900-$1,200 and a 19th-century French Empire mantel clock, marble with ormolu bezel and an open pendulum, estimated at $800-$1,200.
The items deaccessioned from a Massachusetts Historical Society include an 18th-century slant-lid desk, an 18th-century two-drawer stand having acanthus carving in the manner of Duncan Phyfe, a set of six late 18th-century/early 19th-century ribbon-back side chairs, having pegged construction, a flame mahogany claw foot sofa, a 19th-century carved flame mahogany Empire sofa with heavily carved claw feet, and a 19th-century Empire game table and a mahogany tip-top table, originally owned by Bessie A. Baker of Beverly, Mass.
From the family of H. Sacks and Sons of Brookline, Mass., is a circa 1800-1815 Portsmouth, N.H., Hepplewhite bow-front, drop-front chest having four graduated drawers, with mahogany and birch banding inlay. The brass pulls have an American eagle design. A circa 1770, mahogany Pennsylvannia four-drawer chest with graduated drawers and ogee bracket feet that descended through the Drake family of Pennsylvannia and having Quaker roots is estimated at $1,500-$3,000.
In anticipation of Christmas gift buying, there is a large collection of jewelry in the sale, including a platinum and diamond bow pin with approximately 50 European cut diamonds and a center diamond of approximately 5 carats total weight estimated at $3,200-$3,500. A platinum pear-shaped diamond ring is estimated at $2,500-$3,500. Also featured are a platinum and diamond eternity band, many lots of Tiffany jewelry including an 18K yellow gold and ruby pin, a lot of two Tiffany diamond and ruby pins in the form of bees, a Tiffany 18K yellow gold and diamond ring and a 18K Tiffany yellow gold and ruby pendant, as well as a Tiffany/Perretti pendant on a matching chain. Cartier is represented in a 18K yellow gold bracelet. There are also two beautiful tanzanite rings in the sale.
2011年11月16日星期三
Yard sale not the venue for selling art
There are two missing pieces of information I need in order to accurately evaluate these two paintings. The first is the size: This is important because art is often essentially sold by the square inch. The second is whether or not these images are actually signed by Roger Etienne.
The phrase in today's letter, " that I have finally figured out were painted by Roger Etienne," either means that these are not signed (I cannot see a signature in the photograph) or they are signed "Etienne" and it took N. L.-P. a while to discover to whom that referred.
I have found some genuine examples of Etienne's work that are unsigned so the lack of a signature is not all that disturbing. The pieces in today's question with their big eyed children painted on French newspaper is in Etienne's style, and I think there is very little doubt that these two pieces are by that artist.
Etienne is really very famous, but little has been printed about him that I could find. He was born in 1922, and since I can find no date of death, I have to assume that he is probably still alive or perhaps recently deceased.
Although he worked at the Pablo Picasso Workshop for four years, Etienne is considered to be a French Impressionist. It has been reported that Marc Chagall commissioned Etienne to do work for the Paris Opera House, and Etienne supposedly has work in museums in Paris, Zurich and Brussels.
All that sounds very impressive, but does this translate into money in the art market? Currently, I think the answer is no, and his work often fails to sell when it comes up for auction. Unfortunately, when it does sell, images of his children usually bring less than $500.
Etienne also did some nudes, which bring a little more money when they come up for sale (but still less than $1,000 as a general rule), and he also did some landscapes. In addition, there are some Etienne lithographs on the market, but these usually sell for less than $100 at auction.
If N. L.-P.'s two examples are signed, in good condition and a good size, the current insurance replacement value for the pair is probably in the $400 to $600 range. But the question is, should the current owner keep them or sell them. That, of course, is strictly up to her, but let me point out that the main reason to keep any work of art is because the owner likes it and appreciates the image.
So, if N. L.-P. likes these two paintings, she should keep them. But, whether she likes them or not she should not sell them at a garage sale. In this kind of downscale venue in East Tennessee, these painting would probably bring next to nothing.
I think she should keep them for the time being and see if the price goes up in the short term. If she should decide to sell, consigning them to a reputable auction house would be the thing to do.
The phrase in today's letter, " that I have finally figured out were painted by Roger Etienne," either means that these are not signed (I cannot see a signature in the photograph) or they are signed "Etienne" and it took N. L.-P. a while to discover to whom that referred.
I have found some genuine examples of Etienne's work that are unsigned so the lack of a signature is not all that disturbing. The pieces in today's question with their big eyed children painted on French newspaper is in Etienne's style, and I think there is very little doubt that these two pieces are by that artist.
Etienne is really very famous, but little has been printed about him that I could find. He was born in 1922, and since I can find no date of death, I have to assume that he is probably still alive or perhaps recently deceased.
Although he worked at the Pablo Picasso Workshop for four years, Etienne is considered to be a French Impressionist. It has been reported that Marc Chagall commissioned Etienne to do work for the Paris Opera House, and Etienne supposedly has work in museums in Paris, Zurich and Brussels.
All that sounds very impressive, but does this translate into money in the art market? Currently, I think the answer is no, and his work often fails to sell when it comes up for auction. Unfortunately, when it does sell, images of his children usually bring less than $500.
Etienne also did some nudes, which bring a little more money when they come up for sale (but still less than $1,000 as a general rule), and he also did some landscapes. In addition, there are some Etienne lithographs on the market, but these usually sell for less than $100 at auction.
If N. L.-P.'s two examples are signed, in good condition and a good size, the current insurance replacement value for the pair is probably in the $400 to $600 range. But the question is, should the current owner keep them or sell them. That, of course, is strictly up to her, but let me point out that the main reason to keep any work of art is because the owner likes it and appreciates the image.
So, if N. L.-P. likes these two paintings, she should keep them. But, whether she likes them or not she should not sell them at a garage sale. In this kind of downscale venue in East Tennessee, these painting would probably bring next to nothing.
I think she should keep them for the time being and see if the price goes up in the short term. If she should decide to sell, consigning them to a reputable auction house would be the thing to do.
2011年11月15日星期二
Early version of famous Victorian 'Derby Day' painting found hanging
An early version of 'The Derby Day,' a panoramic painting by famed Victorian artist William Powell Frith, was found in a New England beach house.
It is one of the era's most famous pictures.
The picaresque image shows crowds at an 1850s horse race, from a rich family in their carriage to gamblers, acrobats, and prostitutes.
The finished painting hangs in the Tate Britain gallery in London.
Peter Brown, Christie's director of Victorian pictures, said the rediscovery of the oil sketch was 'immensely exciting.'
It had been hanging in a modest New England beach house for decades before a friend of the owner suggested it might be worth something.
Christie's won't be more specific about the location because the owner wants to remain anonymous.
Mr Brown said the vendor, who is in his 60s, believes his parents bought the painting some time before World War II, when Victorian art was often dismissed as garish and sentimental.
'It's a testament to the change in fortunes of Victorian pictures over the last century that these things could have been acquired very cheaply indeed in the '30s, '40s and '50s,' said Mr Brown.
Since the 1970s, critical opinion has changed, and works by the best Victorian artists are coveted by collectors.
'It's really a novel in paint and would have been read as such by the Victorian picture-going public,' Mr Brown said.
The painting goes on sale December 15 in London, with an estimate of $477,000 to $800,000.
Mr Frith, one of the era's most successful painters, specialized in busy scenes of daily life, and his subjects ranged from beach-goers to railway stations to royal weddings.
He rose to fame by way of his meticulously painted scenes, which often depicted both the very rich and the very poor.
In 1853, the painter was appointed a full member of the Royal Academy.
By this time, Mr Frith had made plenty of high-profile friendships. He was familiar with fellow painter William Turner, as well as Charles Dickens, who he immortalized in a portrait in 1859.
He was also a favourite of the Royal Family.
'The Derby Day' was so popular when first exhibited in 1858 that a special rail was installed at the Royal Academy in London to hold back the crowds.
In fact, rails had to be installed at no less than six of his paintings.
'The Derby Day' depicts three main scenes.
In the first, on the far left, men in top hats focus on the 'thimble-rigger.'
An acrobat and his son are in the center of 'The Derby Day,' greedily eying a lavish picnic laid out by a footman.
Racegoers on the right hang about their carriages and flirt and also prepare picnics, while a ragged, hungry-looking girl begs for food.
It is one of the era's most famous pictures.
The picaresque image shows crowds at an 1850s horse race, from a rich family in their carriage to gamblers, acrobats, and prostitutes.
The finished painting hangs in the Tate Britain gallery in London.
Peter Brown, Christie's director of Victorian pictures, said the rediscovery of the oil sketch was 'immensely exciting.'
It had been hanging in a modest New England beach house for decades before a friend of the owner suggested it might be worth something.
Christie's won't be more specific about the location because the owner wants to remain anonymous.
Mr Brown said the vendor, who is in his 60s, believes his parents bought the painting some time before World War II, when Victorian art was often dismissed as garish and sentimental.
'It's a testament to the change in fortunes of Victorian pictures over the last century that these things could have been acquired very cheaply indeed in the '30s, '40s and '50s,' said Mr Brown.
Since the 1970s, critical opinion has changed, and works by the best Victorian artists are coveted by collectors.
'It's really a novel in paint and would have been read as such by the Victorian picture-going public,' Mr Brown said.
The painting goes on sale December 15 in London, with an estimate of $477,000 to $800,000.
Mr Frith, one of the era's most successful painters, specialized in busy scenes of daily life, and his subjects ranged from beach-goers to railway stations to royal weddings.
He rose to fame by way of his meticulously painted scenes, which often depicted both the very rich and the very poor.
In 1853, the painter was appointed a full member of the Royal Academy.
By this time, Mr Frith had made plenty of high-profile friendships. He was familiar with fellow painter William Turner, as well as Charles Dickens, who he immortalized in a portrait in 1859.
He was also a favourite of the Royal Family.
'The Derby Day' was so popular when first exhibited in 1858 that a special rail was installed at the Royal Academy in London to hold back the crowds.
In fact, rails had to be installed at no less than six of his paintings.
'The Derby Day' depicts three main scenes.
In the first, on the far left, men in top hats focus on the 'thimble-rigger.'
An acrobat and his son are in the center of 'The Derby Day,' greedily eying a lavish picnic laid out by a footman.
Racegoers on the right hang about their carriages and flirt and also prepare picnics, while a ragged, hungry-looking girl begs for food.
2011年11月14日星期一
Russell Drysdale's rare old Gran eyes $1m
The metre-high oil on board is one of seven pictures for sale from the estate of Irvin Rockman, the thrice-married, controversy-plagued former lord mayor of Melbourne.
Rockman died last year and is remembered for financially backing the initial Dan Murphy liquor stores and founding Rockman Regency luxury hotel. He inherited the picture from his parents, clothing retailers Norman and Susie Rockman.
Despite the foreboding appearance of Gran, Sotheby's chairman Geoffrey Smith said its value lay in its scarcity.
"(Drysdale) painted very few portraits, fewer than 300," he said. "He just wasn't very prolific, they took a long time and he was independently wealthy and painted for love."
Drysdale was known to destroy works he was unhappy with rather than release them.
"That's why they are sought-after: works from this period don't often appear on the market," Mr Smith said.
Since 2000, nine paintings by Drysdale, who died in 1981, have sold for more than seven figures.
"The wonderful thing about Drysdale is he's a humanist; he depicts many people who are marginalised," said Mr Smith.
For its Important Australian and International Art auction in Melbourne next Tuesday, Sotheby's will auction 64 works valued at between $4m and $5.3m.
In Sydney, over the two days prior, Bonhams Australia will auction jewellery, furniture, decorative arts, Aboriginal art and Australian art valued at between $6.3m and $8.7m. The following week, on November 30 in Melbourne, Deutscher and Hackett will auction 161 lots of Important Australian and International Art valued between $4.1m and $5.5m.
Veteran dealer Denis Savill, who has this year curtailed his once vigorous auction-buying activity, said "all the auction houses have much more meagre offerings than a couple of years ago".
The scarcity of valuable works on offer is the result of collectors who don't have to sell refraining from consigning works into the current flat market.
Rockman died last year and is remembered for financially backing the initial Dan Murphy liquor stores and founding Rockman Regency luxury hotel. He inherited the picture from his parents, clothing retailers Norman and Susie Rockman.
Despite the foreboding appearance of Gran, Sotheby's chairman Geoffrey Smith said its value lay in its scarcity.
"(Drysdale) painted very few portraits, fewer than 300," he said. "He just wasn't very prolific, they took a long time and he was independently wealthy and painted for love."
Drysdale was known to destroy works he was unhappy with rather than release them.
"That's why they are sought-after: works from this period don't often appear on the market," Mr Smith said.
Since 2000, nine paintings by Drysdale, who died in 1981, have sold for more than seven figures.
"The wonderful thing about Drysdale is he's a humanist; he depicts many people who are marginalised," said Mr Smith.
For its Important Australian and International Art auction in Melbourne next Tuesday, Sotheby's will auction 64 works valued at between $4m and $5.3m.
In Sydney, over the two days prior, Bonhams Australia will auction jewellery, furniture, decorative arts, Aboriginal art and Australian art valued at between $6.3m and $8.7m. The following week, on November 30 in Melbourne, Deutscher and Hackett will auction 161 lots of Important Australian and International Art valued between $4.1m and $5.5m.
Veteran dealer Denis Savill, who has this year curtailed his once vigorous auction-buying activity, said "all the auction houses have much more meagre offerings than a couple of years ago".
The scarcity of valuable works on offer is the result of collectors who don't have to sell refraining from consigning works into the current flat market.
2011年11月13日星期日
Tihar masala to spice up your food
Soon, food items and condiments made by Tihar inmates will occupy your kitchen shelves. What's more: you can buy detergents, biscuits, namkeen and even jute bags made by the inmates. The largest prison complex in south Asia is also set to become a competing brand in grocery shops across the city. And, when you visit the trade fair at Pragati Maidan this time around, you can even spot brand TJ's (Tihar Jail's) stall at the fair. With 15 new distributors appointed by the Tihar authorities for the National Capital Region (NCR), soon the TJ's products will be available in every nook and cranny, say Tihar officials.
"In the last fiscal year, our turnover was Rs 14 crore. This year, we have expanded our range of products and aim to have a turnover of Rs 20 crore. The products made by our inmates are of good quality and competitively priced. It gladdens the heart of the inmates to know their products are in demand outside the jail premises," said Sunil Gupta, Tihar law officer and PRO.
Tihar has recently launched its own spice manufacturing unit. Now, they also plan to open a blanket manufacturing factory in jail 8 and 9. "Each year, we float tenders in Panipat to provide us with blankets for our inmates. Each of the 12,500 prisoners is entitled to four blankets. We plan to save government money by starting this unit. We will first meet our own requirements and then put the extra blankets up on sale. We are also launching TJ's soap and detergent powder," said a senior Tihar official.
Presently, Tihar Jail products can be found in all court complexes in Delhi including high court. Around 20 branches of Kendriya Bhandaar and Khaadi Bhandaar also stock TJ's products.
With the new distributors in the fray, these products will soon be available at grocery shops as well.
The products include handloom and textile, apparel, furniture, pure mustard oil, recycled hand-made paper products, paintings, designer candles and lamps, jute bags, herbal products.
"TJ's is a brand developed with a non-commercial and non-profit objective. Tihar jail factory provides an opportunity to reform and rehabilitate the inmates by channelizing their energy in a positive direction," said a senior jail official.
"In the last fiscal year, our turnover was Rs 14 crore. This year, we have expanded our range of products and aim to have a turnover of Rs 20 crore. The products made by our inmates are of good quality and competitively priced. It gladdens the heart of the inmates to know their products are in demand outside the jail premises," said Sunil Gupta, Tihar law officer and PRO.
Tihar has recently launched its own spice manufacturing unit. Now, they also plan to open a blanket manufacturing factory in jail 8 and 9. "Each year, we float tenders in Panipat to provide us with blankets for our inmates. Each of the 12,500 prisoners is entitled to four blankets. We plan to save government money by starting this unit. We will first meet our own requirements and then put the extra blankets up on sale. We are also launching TJ's soap and detergent powder," said a senior Tihar official.
Presently, Tihar Jail products can be found in all court complexes in Delhi including high court. Around 20 branches of Kendriya Bhandaar and Khaadi Bhandaar also stock TJ's products.
With the new distributors in the fray, these products will soon be available at grocery shops as well.
The products include handloom and textile, apparel, furniture, pure mustard oil, recycled hand-made paper products, paintings, designer candles and lamps, jute bags, herbal products.
"TJ's is a brand developed with a non-commercial and non-profit objective. Tihar jail factory provides an opportunity to reform and rehabilitate the inmates by channelizing their energy in a positive direction," said a senior jail official.
2011年11月10日星期四
The Art World's Slowpokes
Sure, everyone likes Jan Vermeer now, three hundred-plus years after the seventeenth century Dutch artist's death, but most art dealers want little to do with artists who can only produce two or three paintings a year -- Vermeer created fewer than 40 in his lifetime.
"There are lots of difficulties in building a career when you don't have a large inventory," New York dealer Louis K. Meisel said. "You want to have one-person shows every two or three years, but the artist may not have enough completed works to exhibit. You want to show the artist's work at galleries in other cities, in order to attract out-of-town buyers, but you can't do it because there is just nothing to spare. You also have to sell each painting for more money than other artists might receive just because the artist has so few other works to sell."
Meisel, who has represented the work of photo realist painters (most averaging four works a year) since the early 1970s, developed a number of creative approaches to surmount these difficulties, but many other dealers just don't want the bother and will forego otherwise promising artists. "Admittedly, there are times when you get frustrated, waiting and waiting for the works to dribble in, for the shows to take place," said New York dealer Nancy Hoffman, who represents a number of nonprolific artists. "It's much harder to keep an artist in the public eye if there are five years between shows. Shows give context to the work."
Finding an accommodating art dealer is no small challenge for artists with low productivity. "I've had dealer after dealer tell me that they like the images I do but not the low volume," William Beckman, who produces an average of two paintings a year, said. "Dealers just can't appreciate the length of time it takes me to get that image right, and they say they can't show me and pay the overhead." Beckman never was much faster. He may apply as many as 100 layers of paint, which he then scrapes and sandpapers ("I have an obsession with a certain surface"). In 1969, he worked all year long on a single six-foot tall painting of his (now ex-) wife, which he sold two years later for $10,000, keeping only $5,000 after the commission was paid. "I really began to question whether I could do this," he noted. "Now, I had a wife and child to support." Ohio State University offered him a teaching position in 1971. "I flew home [Brooklyn, New York] to talk to my wife about it and, as soon as I got through the door, she told me there was a buyer for the painting I was then working on, so I tore up the contract and stuck with it."
Even the most understanding dealers may show exasperation from time to time at artists who do not produce many paintings. Barbara Dixon Drewa, a trompe l'oeil painter in Houston, Texas, stated that "I've had dealers suggest to me that I get an assistant to do the finishing touches, to speed everything up. Others have suggested that I spend less time with my family and just paint. I'm working 30-40 hours per week in the studio on my painting as it is." Her one-person shows at the Fischbach Gallery in New York City take place when she is able to complete enough works to fill the space. A single oil-on-wood painting takes between 10 and 12 weeks to create, and each is sent up to her dealer as soon as the paint is dry. Usually, they are sold quickly but with the proviso that the gallery may borrow the works back for exhibitions--that is a common solution to the slow-producing artist problem, filling up the gallery walls for exhibitions even though half or more of the works may not be for sale.
At times, the walls just cannot be filled. Beckman noted that he has had shows with only two paintings, displaying each spotlighted painting in a darkened room, which adds a certain visual excitement to the event while making a virtue of necessity.
There are certain options for dealers of slow-producing artists and others for the artists themselves. In order to help artists work full-time on their art, some dealers offer advances against future sales or suggest foundations to which artists may apply for grants and fellowships. Similarly, some dealers also arrange commissions for their artists as well as recommend them for teaching positions. Some artists also become more productive when a specific exhibition date is scheduled. Artists are usually appreciative if their dealers are understanding and supportive of their slow processes, not carping at them or dropping them from the gallery when they don't produce a certain number of pictures. "Artists aren't factories," Robert Fishko, director of Forum Gallery in New York, said. "You can't put on a second shift. You just have to accept the artist with whatever level of productivity he or she has."
Expanding the regional or national exposure for artists with relatively few works to show sometimes entails a dealer placing advertisements in art magazines and other publications. Louis Meisel noted that he has been able to put together exhibitions of his photo realist artists for loans to galleries in other cities by including "two of this artist, two of that artist, two of another and two of someone else, because there just aren't eight works by one artist to lend out." In general, artists who may go long periods between one-person exhibits are more likely to be included in group shows.
All other things being equal, realist painters, especially those who concentrate on fine details, are more likely to have a small output than artists in other media and styles. "When I was an abstract expressionist, I produced lots and lots of work. It's the nature of the beast," said painter and sculptor Audrey Flack. "When I started doing the photo realism, that's when everything slowed down. I'd say to myself, 'Here I am working all this time on this finger and, during this time, someone else has already done 20 paintings.'" She noted that the slower pace of productivity increased the problem of earning a living as well as "raises the stakes" when the completed work is finally exhibited to the public. "You show your work and people don't get it, or some critic condemns it, you may wonder, 'Have I wasted the last few years of my life?' If I do just three paintings in two years, and only one sells, I think, 'How am I supposed to live off that?'"
The labor-intensive approach of painstaking realism requires career expectations as patient as the artistic technique itself. Realist artists cannot expect that their paintings will sell for much more than another painter's work simply because it took them longer to create them. Photo realist painter Don Eddy, who said that he "lived from painting to the painting" in the early 1970s and produces only four or five works a year, noted that he always spends "less than my income, and I've created a reserve that now could carry me through three or four years if there were a fallow period. That takes the pressure off."
Another way of taking at least some more of the pressure off is by creating works in different sizes and media that do not take as much time as the larger pieces. Audrey Flack and Janet Fish, for instance, both paint in watercolors (Flack: "because you can finish them in a day, and it's a way to get out of the studio and into nature"; Fish: "because I can do three or four a day, and it has helped me open up my larger paintings").
Studies for larger, more time-consuming works also flesh out an exhibition as well as provide more affordable pieces. William Beckman also helps "fill the gallery's walls with drawings," both in pencil and charcoal, that sell for between $3,000 and $11,000, far less than the large (six-by-five-foot: $160,000) and small (two-by-three-foot: $45,000) paintings. Candace Jans, a Boston artist, exhibits and sells the studies (gouaches and alkyds) for her larger oil paintings, of which she may only produce two a year. While the studies sell for far less ($2,500 for a five-by-eight-inch or $5,000-$6,000 for a 12-by-18-inch) than the oils ($25,000-$30,000), their more plentiful supply increases the likelihood of something selling right away. The studies are also less taxing for her: "They are straight-forward exercises," she said. "It's what I see in front of me. I don't have all the compositional problems of the larger paintings. The studies are a palette cleanser."
Varying the size also increases the artistic output of Scott Pryor, a painter who spends an average of two months on his four-by-six-foot paintings but just a few days or weeks on his smaller (five-by-eight-inch or one-by-two-foot) paintings. "After I finish one of the larger paintings, I think, 'Gee, I don't want to do that much more again for a long time,'" he said. "And even though I get more money for the larger paintings, proportionately I make more from the smaller works because I can do so many more of them." He added that he creates the larger paintings "on a lot of faith, because the larger works may be harder to sell since they cost more."
"There are lots of difficulties in building a career when you don't have a large inventory," New York dealer Louis K. Meisel said. "You want to have one-person shows every two or three years, but the artist may not have enough completed works to exhibit. You want to show the artist's work at galleries in other cities, in order to attract out-of-town buyers, but you can't do it because there is just nothing to spare. You also have to sell each painting for more money than other artists might receive just because the artist has so few other works to sell."
Meisel, who has represented the work of photo realist painters (most averaging four works a year) since the early 1970s, developed a number of creative approaches to surmount these difficulties, but many other dealers just don't want the bother and will forego otherwise promising artists. "Admittedly, there are times when you get frustrated, waiting and waiting for the works to dribble in, for the shows to take place," said New York dealer Nancy Hoffman, who represents a number of nonprolific artists. "It's much harder to keep an artist in the public eye if there are five years between shows. Shows give context to the work."
Finding an accommodating art dealer is no small challenge for artists with low productivity. "I've had dealer after dealer tell me that they like the images I do but not the low volume," William Beckman, who produces an average of two paintings a year, said. "Dealers just can't appreciate the length of time it takes me to get that image right, and they say they can't show me and pay the overhead." Beckman never was much faster. He may apply as many as 100 layers of paint, which he then scrapes and sandpapers ("I have an obsession with a certain surface"). In 1969, he worked all year long on a single six-foot tall painting of his (now ex-) wife, which he sold two years later for $10,000, keeping only $5,000 after the commission was paid. "I really began to question whether I could do this," he noted. "Now, I had a wife and child to support." Ohio State University offered him a teaching position in 1971. "I flew home [Brooklyn, New York] to talk to my wife about it and, as soon as I got through the door, she told me there was a buyer for the painting I was then working on, so I tore up the contract and stuck with it."
Even the most understanding dealers may show exasperation from time to time at artists who do not produce many paintings. Barbara Dixon Drewa, a trompe l'oeil painter in Houston, Texas, stated that "I've had dealers suggest to me that I get an assistant to do the finishing touches, to speed everything up. Others have suggested that I spend less time with my family and just paint. I'm working 30-40 hours per week in the studio on my painting as it is." Her one-person shows at the Fischbach Gallery in New York City take place when she is able to complete enough works to fill the space. A single oil-on-wood painting takes between 10 and 12 weeks to create, and each is sent up to her dealer as soon as the paint is dry. Usually, they are sold quickly but with the proviso that the gallery may borrow the works back for exhibitions--that is a common solution to the slow-producing artist problem, filling up the gallery walls for exhibitions even though half or more of the works may not be for sale.
At times, the walls just cannot be filled. Beckman noted that he has had shows with only two paintings, displaying each spotlighted painting in a darkened room, which adds a certain visual excitement to the event while making a virtue of necessity.
There are certain options for dealers of slow-producing artists and others for the artists themselves. In order to help artists work full-time on their art, some dealers offer advances against future sales or suggest foundations to which artists may apply for grants and fellowships. Similarly, some dealers also arrange commissions for their artists as well as recommend them for teaching positions. Some artists also become more productive when a specific exhibition date is scheduled. Artists are usually appreciative if their dealers are understanding and supportive of their slow processes, not carping at them or dropping them from the gallery when they don't produce a certain number of pictures. "Artists aren't factories," Robert Fishko, director of Forum Gallery in New York, said. "You can't put on a second shift. You just have to accept the artist with whatever level of productivity he or she has."
Expanding the regional or national exposure for artists with relatively few works to show sometimes entails a dealer placing advertisements in art magazines and other publications. Louis Meisel noted that he has been able to put together exhibitions of his photo realist artists for loans to galleries in other cities by including "two of this artist, two of that artist, two of another and two of someone else, because there just aren't eight works by one artist to lend out." In general, artists who may go long periods between one-person exhibits are more likely to be included in group shows.
All other things being equal, realist painters, especially those who concentrate on fine details, are more likely to have a small output than artists in other media and styles. "When I was an abstract expressionist, I produced lots and lots of work. It's the nature of the beast," said painter and sculptor Audrey Flack. "When I started doing the photo realism, that's when everything slowed down. I'd say to myself, 'Here I am working all this time on this finger and, during this time, someone else has already done 20 paintings.'" She noted that the slower pace of productivity increased the problem of earning a living as well as "raises the stakes" when the completed work is finally exhibited to the public. "You show your work and people don't get it, or some critic condemns it, you may wonder, 'Have I wasted the last few years of my life?' If I do just three paintings in two years, and only one sells, I think, 'How am I supposed to live off that?'"
The labor-intensive approach of painstaking realism requires career expectations as patient as the artistic technique itself. Realist artists cannot expect that their paintings will sell for much more than another painter's work simply because it took them longer to create them. Photo realist painter Don Eddy, who said that he "lived from painting to the painting" in the early 1970s and produces only four or five works a year, noted that he always spends "less than my income, and I've created a reserve that now could carry me through three or four years if there were a fallow period. That takes the pressure off."
Another way of taking at least some more of the pressure off is by creating works in different sizes and media that do not take as much time as the larger pieces. Audrey Flack and Janet Fish, for instance, both paint in watercolors (Flack: "because you can finish them in a day, and it's a way to get out of the studio and into nature"; Fish: "because I can do three or four a day, and it has helped me open up my larger paintings").
Studies for larger, more time-consuming works also flesh out an exhibition as well as provide more affordable pieces. William Beckman also helps "fill the gallery's walls with drawings," both in pencil and charcoal, that sell for between $3,000 and $11,000, far less than the large (six-by-five-foot: $160,000) and small (two-by-three-foot: $45,000) paintings. Candace Jans, a Boston artist, exhibits and sells the studies (gouaches and alkyds) for her larger oil paintings, of which she may only produce two a year. While the studies sell for far less ($2,500 for a five-by-eight-inch or $5,000-$6,000 for a 12-by-18-inch) than the oils ($25,000-$30,000), their more plentiful supply increases the likelihood of something selling right away. The studies are also less taxing for her: "They are straight-forward exercises," she said. "It's what I see in front of me. I don't have all the compositional problems of the larger paintings. The studies are a palette cleanser."
Varying the size also increases the artistic output of Scott Pryor, a painter who spends an average of two months on his four-by-six-foot paintings but just a few days or weeks on his smaller (five-by-eight-inch or one-by-two-foot) paintings. "After I finish one of the larger paintings, I think, 'Gee, I don't want to do that much more again for a long time,'" he said. "And even though I get more money for the larger paintings, proportionately I make more from the smaller works because I can do so many more of them." He added that he creates the larger paintings "on a lot of faith, because the larger works may be harder to sell since they cost more."
订阅：
博文 (Atom)